Cursed Blessing
by hanyou-samurai
Summary: With two demons protecting her, and a cursed human trying to protect as well, she should be fine. Right? Wrong. With a mysterious power and assassins hunting her, nothing will save her. Except the cursed blessing of demon blood. YYHxFB HieixOCxOC
1. Chapter 1

**This chapter was refurbished quite a bit, because I re-read it, and it sucked! Hopefully this version is better.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Haru, Momiji, Akito, or any fruits basket characters, I do, however own Sara, Katie, and Gyna.**

**Thank you Neko-Koorime for Gyna's name! You rock!**

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**Cursed Blessing**

**hanyou-samurai  
**

Chapter 1

"Wait up you guys!"

"No. You're too slow." Sara said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't fond of Gyna.

"I am tying my shoe! And I'm not slow! I'm just…"

"Speed challenged?"

"Ha ha." Gyna said sarcastically.

Gyna rolled her eyes at Katie's bad joke. She had been 'tying' her shoe for the past three minutes and forty-two seconds, and her so-called 'friends' had started to get impatient.

Gyna Shitenshi sighed and finished tying her shoe. She had green eyes flecked with gold, and shoulder length brown hair. It was growing about a quarter of a centimeter everyday, and slowly turning silver.

The fifteen year old then began to tie her other shoe, hoping the girls would ditch her so she could go home. She loved amusement parks, that was true. She absolutely adored huge roller coasters, but only geeks went to amusement parks alone. And Gyna, while being many things, was not a geek.

Gyna was about ready to murder her boy crazy friends. According to them, what better way to spend an afternoon at an amusement park then searching for guys? Even Gyna had to admit, her friends were getting a lot of looks from different guys. Gyna was barely getting a glance, but she was used to that. Her friends were, happy, bubbly, model material, and she was a goth, a punk, a hardcore loner, by choice and circumstance.

"We're going on ahead, meet us in line, 'kay?"

"Sure." _When will you baka's be ready to go home?_ Her friends were oblivious to how much she hated this. _I would have enjoyed it if you guys weren't so happy._ _Well, it's not like you told them you didn't want to come,_ she thought to herself. _Oh wait, you did! And they dragged you along anyway! The fools said it would be 'good for my social standing to get out of that dreary room once in a while.' What do they know? And my room isn't dreary, it's cool._

Anyway, the only reason I'm here is because Katie is too nice to not invite the weird kid who sits in the corner on an outing with her.

Gyna ran to catch up with her friends. She was craning her neck in all directions, trying to find them. While running. Not the smartest idea.

"Momiji! Momiji! Where are you, you little rabbit!" People turned to stare at the last comment. Hatsuharu Sohma didn't notice he was too busy craning his neck to find Momiji. While running. Really, neither teenagers were thinking that day. Haru flicked his white hair out of his eyes, and ran a hand haphazardly through the black roots.

THWUMP! Gyna tripped and fell onto Haru, her arms closing around his stomach. Haru closed his eyes, ready to transform, but he didn't hear the popping noise, and he didn't feel any different. Instead he heard "Owwwwwwww." He opened his eyes. He was lying flat on his back with a girl on top of him, hugging his stomach. And he hadn't transformed! He sat up.

The girl realized what she was doing, gasped, let go, and crabcrawled backwards about 2 and a half feet. They were both breathing heavily. Gyna realized that the boy was dressed in black like her. Black pants and a black sleeveless vest with the collar open into a v shape. Gyna raised an eyebrow. He was extremely attractive. Gyna spoke.

"I am so sorry!!!!! Are you ok?" Just then, they heard yelling in the distance.

"Come on!" They both looked up. It was Sara and Katie waving their arms.

"I gotta go," said Gyna, jumping up and running to her friends. Haru just sat there until his blonde, half-German cousin ran up to him.

"Watcha doing on the ground Haru?" said Momiji, popping out of nowhere.

Haru stood up. "Nothing. Let's go." As they were leaving, he couldn't help but glance back at the girl. Who was she? Why didn't he transform? These were questions he wouldn't be asking anyone, especially Akito.

The Sohma family was cursed. Thirteen of its members were born with the spirit of the Chinese Zodiac inside of them. Haru was the cow, Momiji, the rabbit. The thirteenth spirit was the cat.

Now, the cat is not a member of the Zodiac, of course. That is because when God called all the animals together for a feast, the rat told the cat that the feast was the next day. That night, while all of the animals went to the feast, the cat slept, dreaming of the false feast that was to happen the next day.

On the way to the feast, the rat ran up to the ox and told him that he was tired. The ox let him ride on its back. Once they reached the place where the feast was to be held, the rat jumped off the ox's back and God gave him the first year. The ox, angry that he had been duped, was pacified by being given the second year.

So the Sohma family was cursed. It popped up when the pervious carried had died. The problem for its members in America was the fact that Americans were a lot less religious than Japanese, with a lot less superstitions. How would they explain it if they transformed?

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**Well, as I said in the authors note at the beginning, this chapter was rewritten a bit, because I didn't like it. So, I hope you review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, would I be writing a fanfic about it? I don't own YYH either. I owned Gyna, Gyna's family, and any other peoples I feel like adding.**

**Re-written! I don't like any of the chapters until chapter 6.**

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**Cursed Blessing**

**hanyou-samurai**

Chapter Two

Haru and Momiji walked into Shigure's house. Akito, the head of the Sohma family had gotten the brilliant idea to send his least favorite members of the zodiac to America. As a member of the Sohma family and of the zodiac, Haru, Momiji, and their twenty-seven year old cousin had all been required to learn English, and were very adept at it.

"Oh, you guys' are home. Did you have a good time?" asked Shigure looking up from his newspaper.

Haru shrugged. "Momiji ran off."

Shigure sighed with a smile on his face. "You shouldn't do that, you know. You could have transformed.

"Who's yelling?" asked Kyo, yet another of their cousin, walking down the stairs. Kyo was the cat. The family had always ostracized the cat. "Oh, hey you guys. How was your trip?"

"Oh, it was so fun Kyo!" said Momiji, smiling brightly. "Haru bought me ice cream, and then I ran all around the park, and Haru couldn't find me."

"You shouldn't do that," Shigure said in a sing-song voice, playing with his pen. He was a writer.

Haru put a hand on his forehead and walked up the stairs. He needed to think, and he had a headache.

"I'm going to bed."

But it's only 6:30! Don't you want any dinner?" asked Shigure.

"No thanks. We stopped for dinner on the way home. And I'm exhausted." Falling into bed, Haru flung an arm over his eyes, blocking all light. Why hadn't he transformed? Was the curse broken? Haru let out a short bark of laugh. He could feel the curse, weighing heavily in his chest, sucking the life out of him. It was a heavy burden to bear. Haru sighed once more before falling into an uneasy sleep, dreams plagued by nightmares.

The next morning Shigure announced which school they would be going to with a bright smile, as if it were exciting.

"Ok, you two."

"Three!"

"Right. Three. Sorry Kyo. I didn't see you."

"How could you not see me? I've been sitting here! You said good morning to me!"

"Be quiet Kyo! I want to hear where we're going to school!" said Momiji.

"Shut up you dumb rabbit!"

"As I was saying," said Shigure, talking above the two squabbling teenagers, "All three of you will be going to a school called 'Liberty High.'

"Do we have to wear uniforms?" asked Haru warily. Kyo and Haru **hated** wearing uniforms.

"Nope!" said Shigure cheerfully. "In America, usually the only schools you have to wear a uniform to are private schools.

"Rich bratty private school preps," said Haru with contempt.

"Yes Haru, we all know how much you hate, how did you put it? Ah yes. 'Rich bratty private school preps.'" Haru hated private school kids. He hated how they used their rich parents influence to get out of trouble

"Why don't you like people from private schools?" asked Kyo.

"Because!" Haru burst out. "They're all rich, snotty people who think they're better than anybody else cause their fathers' have a lot of money, and I hate people like that!"

"Fine, calm down, don't turn black on us." Whenever Haru got angry, he snapped. His relatives called the snapped version 'Black Haru.' The regular, nice, laid back version was called 'White Haru.'

Gyna grimaced at her house.

"Bye Gyna! We'll see you when school starts!" Gyna waved. Actually, it was more of a feeble flutter of her fingers. Her friends drove off, after taking Gyna home from the amusement park. Sara, as the only seventeen year old and the only one who had a license, had driven.

As soon as she had closed the door, she was grabbed by her hair, and thrown into the living room.

"Where've you been?" her father asked, the alcohol slurring his words.

"I was out with my friends," she said, her voice level, standing slowly.

"Your friends!!!! Ya can't do that!!! Come ere' you!"

He grabbed her by the hair, and threw her into the wall. She heard a crack, and a sharp pain laced up her spine. Probably dislocated something again. Then her father drained his beer bottle, and broke it over a table, advancing on her. She just lay there.

He used the broken beer bottle, slashing up her back, arms, stomach, neck, and anything else he could reach. Finally he said, "Get up to yer' room before ya' bleed on the carpet." She bolted up to her room, closing the door behind her.

Her room was a dark, midnight blue, and on one wall a black hole was painted, with various constellations. On a different wall all the phases of the moon were painted with the full moon in the middle. On the third wall, weird symbols were painted with silver paint that glowed slightly. There were several alchemy symbols, and symbols for summoning demons. On the last wall were wall scrolls and a poster.

One wall scroll had a dragon, another had a tiger, the third one had the Chinese Zodiac, their years, and their personality traits, and there was a poster of a wolf howling at the full moon. There was a low Japanese table with mats around it in the center of her room. On the table was a silver chopstick holder inlaid with gold, with ivory chopsticks inlaid with gold and silver sitting on the holder. Her curtains were black silk with two silver sai crossed over a katana embroidered on each curtain.

After a few seconds she caught her breath, and went downstairs for some ice cream. She wasn't hungry. She merely needed the comfort of chocolate ice cream. The figure standing in a tree outside her window shifted slightly, crimson eyes glowing in the dark.

When she returned to her room, there were fresh cut marks on her neck and face, and she was carrying a big bowl of ice cream. She sat down at her table and picked up her spoon, but she didn't start eating.

"You might as well come in," she said. "I know you're there." The figure shifted again, but besides that, it didn't move. "Ah, well. I'm not very hungry. You want some ice cream?" She stood up from the table and walked over to her dresser. Before she had taken a step she felt air hit the back of her neck, and she turned around. The figure was standing there.

He was wearing all black. Crimson eyes contrasted nicely with his gravity-defying black hair, with a tiny star of white. A katana strapped to his waist let her know that he was a fighter. The scent he gave off let her know that he was a demon.

"So nice of you to join me," Gyna said.

"Hn."

She saw his eyes drift longingly towards the ice cream. "Do you want that ice cream?" she asked. "I'm not hungry."

He immediately sat down in one fluid motion, and dug into the ice cream. She turned back to her dresser, but before she moved, she heard a sound behind her.

"Mmmmm."

She turned around. Hiei was eating the ice cream with his eyes closed, savoring the flavor.

"Mmmmm," he repeated. "Sweet snow."

She laughed, then hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands. Crimson eyes glared into eyes as green as his best friend's. When their eyes met, he tried to read her mind. He found a lock on all of her thoughts, but emotions whirled around wildly, everything streaked in anger, betrayal, and blood. He withdrew quickly. She didn't give any sign that he had been in her head besides her eyes narrowing slightly. Her hands lowered, revealing fangs.

_Fangs! _Thought the man._ So her demonic powers are changing her appearance. I see flecks of gold in her eyes, and her hair is streaked with silver. Koenma was right about her appearance. I wonder if she knows that she's a demon. Koenma said she didn't, but I'm sure she does by now._

Gyna turned back to her dresser to change out of her long sleeved black shirt into something more comfortable. Hiei glanced up and stared.

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**Okay, this chapter was re-written quite a bit as well. Not as well as I wish it were, but I don't feel like doing a thorough rewriting. Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ummmmm… Hi? Sorry I haven't updated in like, forever, but schools give you way too much homework and stupid reports then are needed. And, I have ideas, but I dunno how to get them on paper, so please don't get mad since this took me so long to get out. I like Papa Roach a lot. Is it just me, or does rock music help other people concentrate too? I just got a new comp, and it actually works!!! Ok, randomness over now.**

**Third chapter I've re-written!**

**Disclaimer: I own Gyna, her family, and her friends. Neko-Koorime owns Miko.**

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**Cursed Blessing**

**hanyou-samurai****  
**

Chapter Three

_Hiei glanced up and stared._

Her back was covered with still bleeding gashes and black and purple bruises. One of the segments of her spine was misaligned, and the white strap of her bra was red with blood.

"Will you…will you help me?" Gyna asked nervously.

She glanced over her shoulder to see his shocked expression. Hiei quickly smoothed his features and said his trademark line.

"Hn. With what?"

"I need you to realign my spine."

Hiei stood up and walked over to her. He placed his hand on the back of her head and bent her over. When she was bent over, he carefully placed his hands on her spine, ready to realign it. He could feel her trembling. He'd had misaligned bones before, and it had hurt horribly.. He'd never misaligned his spine before, but he knew that injuries that happened to the spine hurt more than if they had happened somewhere else. He was willing to bet that at least some of the nerves in her spinal cord were getting pinched, causing even more pain. He could feel her trembling under his hands. This situation was so weird. He'd NEVER been this close to a girl before.

Gyna's POV

His hands are so hot. Almost hot enough to burn. I wonder if he's a fire demon. I wish he would hurry up and do it. This hurts way worse than last time I did this. Maybe some bones are pinching my spinal cord. That's probably it.

Normal POV

He didn't give her any warning. He yanked her spine back with just one quick jerk. He felt her wince at the impact. She straightened.

"Thank you."

He just sat down and finished the ice cream. She put on a black tank top, and black pajama pants. On her right arm, right beneath her shoulder was Egyptian script for dragon, then underneath that wolf, underneath that water, and underneath that ice. On her left arm were Japanese characters for the same thing. On her back, right on the inside of her shoulder blades were tattoos that looked like wings.

"Hey. What's your name?" He glanced over at her.

"Hiei."

"So, Hiei. Are you a fire demon?"

He looked slightly startled. She was doing a good job at throwing him off. Most people couldn't even make him raise an eyebrow.

He didn't know if he should tell her, but she was just a girl. She couldn't do anything to him. Besides make his emotions emerge of course. He had no idea what made her so special. He decided to answer her question truthfully.

"Yes." He said shortly, racking his brain for something else to say. "What's you name? And what kind of a demon are you?"

"I'm a wolf, dragon, ice, and water demon. Why?"

"Just wondering. Why'd you ask me?"

"Same as you. Just wondering." They fell into an awkward silence, neither quite looking at the other.

"Good night." said Gyna quickly. She got into her bed, and pulled up the blankets. He looked at her surprised, not even bothering to smooth his features again. He shrugged and stood up. By the slight gust of wind, Gyna knew he had left. She heard a faint whisper on the air. _Ciao._

_Ciao?_ she thought. _See you later. I guess I'll see him again. Ciao. Interesting word choice Hiei. Very interesting…_ Gyna fell asleep dreaming of the guy she'd run into, Hiei, and fire.

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**TA DA!!!! I'm finally done!! I am so sorry this took me so long to get out, but I was lazy and didn't feel like writing, and school is very hard. I am sorry, to those few people who reviewed. And, I thank you to the extremity for reviewing! And, for you people who didn't, you should have!!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello to my loyal fans!! Or, those who aren't loyal. It doesn't matter. Hello to those people who read the first three chapters!!! Or, any chapters, you know, whatever. Um, here's a recap: Gyna Shitenshi runs into Hatsuharu Sohma (literally) at an amusement park, but he doesn't transform. She goes home, finds Hiei in her room and talks to him. He leaves. Meanwhile, at Shigure's house, Shigure announces which school Kyo, Haru, and Momiji are going to, and it just happens to be the same school as Gyna. Now, it's the first day of school!! Hahahaha. Suckers!!! I am so nice, aren't I? Not. I am not a nice person. At least, not usually. Now, on with the story!!!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, Furuba, or any characters from those.**

**I do however own: Gyna, Katrina, Shelbie, and their families.**

**Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi.**

**Re-Written!**

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**Cursed Blessing**

**hanyou-samurai**

Chapter 4

Take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

I lit my pain on fire

And I watched it all burn down

Now I'm dancing in the ashes

And there's no one else around

Cause I wanna be apart of something

This is just the story of a broken soul

As days go by, my heart grows cold

I can't seem to let this all pass me by

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

I'm burning in the heavens

And I'm drowning in a hell

My soul is in a coma

And none of my friends can tell

That I'm reaching out and getting nothing

This is just the story of a broken soul

As days go by, my heart grows cold

I can't seem to let this all pass me by

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

Don't shut me out

Does anyone around me feel the same

Put your fist up and vent your pain

Does anyone around me feel the same

Put your fist up and vent you pain

Does anyone around me feel the same

Put your fist up and vent your pain

Does anyone around me feel the same

Put your fist up and vent your pain

As days go by, my heart grows cold

I can't seem to let this all pass my by

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

So take me and let me in

Don't break me and shut me out

As days go by, my heart grows cold

I can't seem to let this all pass me by

Take me

Don't break me

Gyna waited till _Take Me_ by Papa Roach was over before she turned off her alarm. What a weird dream.

_Dream Mode_

_Hiei was standing in an office type room with two other men, a woman, and a toddler. Hiei was talking._

_"You are right. She is the demon you are looking for. The one with the so-called awesome power. She seemed like a regular demon to me."_

_"Of course she did Hiei!" said the toddler exasperatedly. "Her powers haven't reached their potential yet."_

_"Gee, ya think?" said the guy with brown-black hair._

_The toddler glared at the guy who had spoken. "I was not talking to you Yusuke."_

_"Are we done here?" asked Hiei._

_"Yes, but I will probably ask you to check up on her later Hiei."_

_"Hn."_

_Suddenly the dream went into an empty hallway. The redhead and Hiei were standing there talking. Hiei leaned against the wall, looking at his best friend._

_"Hiei," said the redhead," Why did you lie to Koenma? You sensed some power right? Because, you seemed very flustered when you cam back. Not at all like you usually are."_

_"Kurama…" Hiei looked down. "Do we have to talk about this? Yes, I sensed power, ok? But, if I told Koenma, he'd make me watch her all the time, and… she confuses me. I should not like her, but… she makes me feel things that I don't like or… or understand." Kurama looked very surprised. Hiei looked up at Kurama. He wanted to see what his reaction would be. Only coming up to Kurama's chin, he had to tilt his head quite a bit. But, instead of Kurama, Yoko was standing there. Hiei looked down._

_Yoko was the famous fox thief that lived inside Kurama's body. His long silver hair, golden eyes, silver fox tail, and silver fox ears made him very popular with the ladies._

_"Hi Yoko," he said in a monotone voice. Yoko seemed… very happy._

_"Oh, Hiei has a woman problem!!" sang Yoko. Hiei rolled his eyes. \_

"_Hn" was his only response._

_"Oh come now Hiei!" said Yoko. "Allow me to help you! Now, I often find roses are the way to a womans' heart. Roses, wine, and gourmet cooking. Although sake works too. Those are things a woman can't resist. I should know. Just look at me and Sumiko." Hiei rolled his eyes, and leaned even more heavily against the wall._

_"Yeah, but… Sumiko is a demon!" _

_"So is this girl, isn't she? I read her file, and she's also half human."_

_"Yes, but you know what I meant. Sumiko is a cat demon. And, when a cat demon loves someone, they don't usually stop loving them until they do something horrible. And Miko is infatuated with you. But this girl is part dragon! And you know how temperamental they can be! They're like bipolar teenagers! I can't deal with this Yoko. I love Yukina, but this is different. What do I do? I need help Yoko. I'm asking you as… as a friend."_

_Yoko sighed. "I never thought this day would come," said Yoko. "Hiei… the Hiei… is asking me for help. His best friend. Then again, he pretty much only has me…"_

_"Yoko…"_

_"All right, all right. I'll stop. But, in this situation, the only help I can give you is to not rush things. I mean, you're quite a violent person, and if you show her how violent you really are, she might get scared. And, when you set your mind on something, you get very… passionate about it. Remember when you decided to make Yusuke's life a living hell for a week?" Hiei was quiet for a few seconds, remembering. A half smile played about his lips for a split second. That had been a fun week._

_"But, seriously Hiei," said Yoko, bringing Hiei back to the present. "If you scare her, she'll run off, like a frightened deer, and she won't come back for a long time, if at all. So, try and be nice, if that's physically possible for you." Hiei nodded. "Well, see ya!" said Yoko cheerfully, as he was engulfed in silver smoke. Once the smoke cleared, Hiei looked at Kurama._

_"So," said Kurama. "Did Yoko give you good advice?" _

_"I guess," sighed Hiei._

_"Kurama!" yelled a girl from down the hallway. She had black cat ears, a black tail (a cat's tail, of course), and black hair._

_Kurama turned around and said, "just a minute Miko." When he turned back to Hiei, he was gone. Kurama rolled his eyes and walked over to Sumiko Takashi."_

_"What was that all about?" she asked._

_Kurama shook his head. "Nothing. Ready to go on our date?" _

_"Yeah!"_

_As they were leaving, Kurama looked back. _I hope he finds happiness soon_, thought Kurama. _Like I have._ Suddenly he kissed Sumiko on her neck. "What was that for?" she asked. "Not that I didn't enjoy it, of course." Kurama just smiled and shook his head._

Gyna shook her head to try and get it out of her mind. Still half asleep, hopped into a hot shower. Then, still half asleep, she got dressed, grabbed her backpack, her binder, and some random book off the shelves in her room (no, it's not a manga book) stuffed them into her backpack, got her shoes on, then left for school. While walking to the bus stop, she looked like a shadow. Black jeans, a black t-shirt that says in white 'This is my dam shirt' and has a picture of a dam on it, and a black unzipped jacket.

When she got to the bus stop, she took off her backpack (black, of course) sat down leaning against the stop sign, put her head in her arms, then rested them on her knees, and promptly fell asleep.

Haru and Momiji walked to the bus stop. Haru was wearing his red sleeveless shirt type thing with a hood, black jeans, and assorted necklaces and a few bracelets. Momiji was wearing some sort of girlish clothes. (A/N By the way, does anyone know why he wears girls clothes? I know he's not gay, I was just wondering.) As they were walking, Momiji suddenly ran off, chasing a bunny. Haru rolled his eyes and finished walking to the bus stop. By this time, Gyna's hair had a few streaks of brown in it, but the rest was silver, and it was two centimeters past her shoulder blades.

When he got there, he just stood looking at Gyna. She looked up without warning, sensing he was there. Green eyes met dark brown ones.

"Hey I know you!" she exclaimed. "You're the guy I ran into!"

Haru laughed. "Nice to meet you. My name is Hatsuharu Sohma. What's yours?" he bowed.

Gyna incline her head. "My name is Gyna Shitenshi," she said. Haru was a bit startled by her name. "Are you Japanese?"

"Yes. Why? How did you know?"

"You bowed too me. Americans don't greet each other that way. We usually just say 'Hey, my name is.' Our culture isn't a very polite one. Did you just move here? I haven't seen you around. Well, besides at the amusement park."

Haru smiled. "We just moved here."

"We?'

"Me and three of my cousins."

"How old are they? Do any of them go to this school?"

"Well," said Haru, "Shigure is 27, Momiji and I are 15, and Kyo is sixteen."

Momiji popped out of seemingly thin air with a huge grin. "We all get to go to the same school!" said Momiji excitedly.

Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're old enough to go to our school?" asked Gyna. Momiji bounced up and down.

"Yes! Me and Kyo and Haru get to go to the same school, I'm so excited!"

Gyna tried not to laugh. "So I'm assuming that you're Momiji? And who's Haru?" Momiji laughed.

"Yes! I'm Momiji. I'm half German and half Japanese! And you've been talking to Haru silly!

Gyna raised both her eyebrows and looked at Haru. "Can I call you Haru, or do you want me to call you Hatsuharu?"

Haru said, "Call me Haru. It's easier." Kyo walked up then, slouching grouchily.

"Finally woke up I see," Haru said, grinning. Kyo merely grunted.

"Gyna, this is Kyo, our other cousin." Kyo jerked his head towards her. Gyna grinned.

"Sup Kyo."

"Sup."

"I'm so excited!" exclaimed Momiji randomly. "I get to meet so many new friends!"

"Is this school a good school?" Haru asked.

Gyna looked him straight in the eyes and laughed. "A good school?' she managed to get out. "This… school… sucks!!!" She finally managed to get her laugh under control. "Here comes the bus. But, remember this. Nobody cares if you pass or not her. They may have in Japan, but they don't here. They just want you out of this school, so don't make that mistake of thinking they care. They may care if they like you, but if you get on their wrong side, they will hate you, and try to make you pay." She boarded the bus. The three males stood there momentarily, a bit shocked by her outburst.

Haru sat by Gyna. She opened her eyes. "Hello," she said.

"Hello," he replied. "Is what you said true? About them not caring? I'm assuming you've gotten on the bad side of some teachers before."

"It's all true," she said. "And I'm usually the one on the bad side of the teachers. They all hate me, but they can't expel me because of my good grades."

"Wow. You have good grades. Mine were never great, but I never failed a year."

"Hey, me neither! You realize that because you're sitting here, I'm going to get in trouble, right?

"Why?"

"Well, the thing is, all of those stupid preps back there who are either flirting or making out made a bet with me. They all bet ten dollars that nobody would sit by me on the bus this year, and I bet them all five dollars that somebody would. So, that means I get a hundred and twenty dollars. Wow. If I had lost that bet, I would have lost sixty dollars. No big deal. I would have taken it from my dad."

"You steal money from your parents?" asked Haru, with an eyebrow raised. He wasn't impressed.

"He doesn't care," said Gyna, shrugging. "He's usually too drunk to notice." Haru noticed the cleverly concealed pain in her voice, and the look that flashed in her eyes. Haru wanted to question her some more, but he didn't. He knew when to stop prying.

When the bus stopped at the school, Gyna stood up and said, in a loud voice, "I have an announcement!"

Everybody stopped moving. Gyna pointed to Haru. "This person," she said, "Sat by me on the bus today! That means that all you preppy bakas have to pay me ten dollars!" The people in the back all glared at her. Then the girls got a good look at Haru. They all started blushing, and fluttering their eyelashes in a flirtatious way. Haru slid down in his seat.

As the preps were getting off the bus, they all handed ten dollars to Gyna. When they were all off, Gyna got off as well, counting her money

"Wanna go and do something today?" asked Gyna folding her money and sticking it in her pocket.

"Are you asking me on a date?" asked Haru, raising an eyebrow.

"No," said Gyna. "It's thanks to you that I have this money, and, in gratitude, I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out today. I could show you around, so you won't get lost."

"Like that will help," said Kyo, who had just walked up. "Haru could get lost in his room. When he was little, I had to help him find his way to the bathroom." Gyna smothered a giggle with her hands as Haru glared at Kyo.

"I knew that!" said Momiji as he bounced up.

Gyna put her hands down and said, "I'll show you guys to the new student registration place. Wherever that is. It may be by the main office…" Gyna trailed off, lost in thought.

Kyo waved his hand in front of Gyna's face. "Hey, anybody in there?" Gyna snapped out of her daze, and grabbed his arm, twisting him so that he was facing away from her, with her twisting his arm up behind his back. Gyna suddenly realized what she had just done, gasped, and let go. Kyo fell onto the ground with a thud.

Gyna knelt down. "I am so sorry!" she said, helping him up. "It's those instincts. I am so sorry Kyo."

"Ouch," said Kyo, brushing himself off. 'I think you could even beat Yuki."

Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Who's Yuki?"

"Another of our cousins," Haru answered.

"Are you guys all weird and inbred?" The three males exchanged glances and then laughed.

"No. We're cousins, but very distantly related cousins," Haru answered her question, still grinning.

Gyna grinned, and then snapped her fingers. "Oh hey! I remember where the new student registration is! It's downstairs by the broken drinking fountain, across from the empty classroom, with the bench with graffiti on it right next to it!"

Everybody stared at Gyna. "What?" she asked, looking around.

"Can you give us real directions, or do you just go by landmarks?" asked Kyo, slightly annoyed.

"I go by landmarks, you got a problem with that?"

"Nope. Just wondering."

"Ok, let's go!" said Momiji, and he marched into the school, Kyo following.

When Haru finally arrived, she was trying to keep from collapsing. "What's so funny?" asked Haru.

"I think… I think you guys are gonna to get mugged!" said Gyna, tears in her eyes.

"Why?' asked Haru, confused.

Gyna gestured through the window. "See for yourselves," she said, finally getting her laughter partially under control. Haru raised an eyebrow and looked through the window.

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**A/N Review, review, review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Ok, hello everybody!!!! In my previous chapters, I keep forgetting to add that Gyna is half human. She's a half-breed. Her mom was entirely human, and her dad is a wolf and ice/water demon.  
**

**Yay for Kokari for guessing what the girls are doing!!! gives cookies Now, for the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. I do own Gyna, Gyna's friends, and their families. Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko (Miko) Takahashi.**

**This chapter is rewritten as well!  
**

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**Cursed Blessing**

**hanyou-samurai**

Chapter Five

Momiji and Kyo were surrounded by quite a large group of girls. They were exclaiming how adorable Momiji was, and how hot Kyo was. Momiji was enjoying the attention, but Kyo had frozen up, hating it.

Haru chuckled evilly. "Why are new students such a novelty?"

Gyna was still laughing. "In this town," she began, "Everybody knows everybody. Have you looked at yourselves lately? You and Kyo are hot, and Momiji is adorably cute. Wait, that didn't sound right. He is cute and adorable. Yeah, that sounds better. If there are new students, they will be scrutinized and it will be decided whether they are cool or not. Your little group is going to be the most popular kids here. Congrats. Although, you will probably get some weird looks, hanging out with a gothic freak like me."

Haru looked up. "Why are you considered a gothic freak? What does gothic mean?"

"Gothic is a type of ancient religion, and a type of architecture used in Western Europe through the 12th and 15th centuries, which is characterized by its high, curved ceilings, and pointed arches." She smiled sweetly after her history lesson. "But here, gothic means you dress all in black, and are kind of creepy.

"The sad thing is, all of the other Goths are normal people and friends with normal people and other Goths, but even they avoid me. Oh well, I like it quiet. Shall we go in? Or do you want to stay out here and laugh at them some more? I must warn you, however, this will probably happen to you to. Just don't flirt, or else those girls will eat you alive. Let's go in, shall we?"

Gyna pushed open one of the sets of double doors and walked in, Haru trailing behind her. The crowd fell silent, starting from the door.

"Oh, great, the freaks' back," came a cruel voice from the crowd. A girl pushed her way to the front. She was pale, with red hair, and huge lips. Gyna personally thought that she looked like a monkey, especially since she always pushed her lips out.

Haru shot Gyna a questioning look, but she missed it, too busy rolling her eyes. Gyna muttered something that sounded like, "Oh, great. People."

The redheaded girl cocked her head, spotting the guy Gyna was standing by. "Who are you?" the girl asked, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously.

"Back off Amy," said Gyna, stepping forward, her hands balled into fists, nails biting into her palms.

The redhead, newly dubbed 'Amy,' stepped forward also. "Don't tell me what to do, Gyna."

"Don't use my name," said Gyna. "You're getting it dirty."

"Ooh, burn," somebody in the crowd who didn't like Amy burst out.

Suddenly, the door opened again, and in walked a guy with black hair, styled so that it fell into his eyes. Gyna started to turn, but the guy grabbed her, swung her around, and hugged her. Gyna was laughing uncontrollably, hugging him too.

"Hey Gyna. Long time no see!"

"Satoshi! How long has it been?"

"All summer. I missed you."

"I missed you too. But who was studying abroad? I'll give you a hint. Their name started with an 'S.'"

Momiji was looking at Satoshi with an odd look on his face, as if he were trying to remember something. Then, he ran forward. "Sato!" Momiji yelled excitedly. Satoshi put Gyna down and looked towards Momiji.

"Momiji Sohma-kun?" he asked, disbelief in his voice. Momiji nodded eagerly.

"Did you just move here?" asked Satoshi, still not believing that it was actually Momiji.

Momiji nodded. "Akito ordered us to. You have to meet the rest of my family!"

"Okay. I still can't believe that you're actually here!"

"I'm getting the feeling that you guys know each other," said Gyna, smiling. A bunch of girls were watching Satoshi, as he was the most popular boy in school.

Satoshi nodded. "We were best friends before I moved to America."

"Really? That's cool."

"We need to catch up, Momiji-kun."

"Yeah! How about after school today? Gyna's showing us around!"

"Yeah, that'd be cool!" Satoshi turned to Gyna. "As long as it's okay with you, of course."

"Of course it is! I need to catch up with you too!" Satoshi got reintroduced to the Sohma family, and they all went off to their classes. Gyna got in trouble in math, literature, and language because she was talking. In math, it was with Satoshi. In literature, it was Haru. In language, it was Kyo.

They all had lunch together, and they ate outside, enjoying the last few days of warm weather. Gyna got to the bench they had agreed to meet at first, and sat down, looking around. No one was there. Gyna looked up into the leafy greenness of the tree, enjoying the cool breeze. She saw Hiei sitting in the tree.

"Hello Hiei."

"Hn."

"What are you doing here?"

Hiei didn't answer, he just shifted into a more comfortable position on his tree branch.

"Did Koenma order you to watch me?"

Suddenly Hiei was on the ground and had shoved a Gyna against the tree, holding both her shoulders.

"Who told you?"

"Let me go Hiei," said Gyna calmly, looking levelly into his red eyes.

"Who told you?"

"Let me go Hiei!" Gyna almost yelled. Hiei, surprised that she wasn't scared, let her go. Gyna rubbed her shoulder.

"I saw it in a dream, pyro boy." Hiei was confused.

"What's a pyro?"

Gyna half smiled. "A pyro is somebody who plays with fire."

"Why'd you call me a pyro?"

"You're a fire demon. That kind of implies that you like to play with fire."

"Back to the present problem at hand, you say that you learned that in a dream."

"Yes."

"How much did you see?" asked Hiei, hoping that she hadn't seen the part where he had told Kurama that she made him feel things he wasn't used to feeling.

"I saw you talking to Koenma in an office. Then, you were in a hallway talking to the redhead. Kurama, right? I couldn't hear what you guys were saying, only bits and pieces. Then, he turned into a silver haired guy called name Yoko. Then, a girl named Miko came." Gyna pretended that she hadn't heard what he had said. Hiei tried to probe her mind again, to find out if she was lying.

Gyna's brow furrowed, and she forced him out.

"Get out!" Hiei staggered back. Her telepathy was stronger than he had anticipated.

"Stop trying to probe my mind. You won't get anywhere. I've spent years perfecting it. So, just stay out!"

"Hn." Hiei jumped back into the tree. Gyna wanted to scream in frustration.

"Why are you watching me?!"

Hiei didn't answer. Gyna stalked to her backpack lying on the ground, took a round red apple out of it, turned around, aimed, and threw it at Hiei. It hit him on the head with a loud "klunk," then fell to the ground. Hiei looked down at the angry girl, and rubbed the side of his head where the apple had hit him.

"Ow."

Gyna stomped her foot. "Is that all you have to say?!" she yelled at him. "You come here, you threaten me, and you watch me, and all you have to say after I throw something at you is 'ow?' What is wrong with you?" Gyna's voice had lost its volume, and she just looked frustrated now. Hiei just looked at her with his emotionless red eyes. Gyna's super-sensitive ears picked up the sound of her friends walking to the bench.

_Meet me at my house at 11 o'clock tonight Hiei. We'll talk more then._

_Hn._

Hiei left, surprised that her telepathy was so refined that she could talk to him telepathically. Not many people, demons or humans could do that.

Gyna ground her teeth and clenched her fist as her friends walked up.

"Yo, Gyna!" called Satoshi. She turned and forced a smiled on her face.

"Hey."

Satoshi reached her before everybody else. He looked at her closely.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly. "You looked tired. And kinda ticked off."

Gyna shook her head, and smiled for real, albeit tiredly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Kinda… tired though."

"Long classes?"

"Yeah, sure, let's got with that."

Satoshi didn't press the subject, even though he knew she was hiding something, but just didn't want to talk about it.

"Hey, Gyna, call me if you ever need to talk or something, okay?"

Gyna smiled gratefully. "Okay. Satoshi, thanks." Satoshi blushed, embarrassed.

"No prob." The Sohma family walked up. They all greeted her, and they ate lunch. Eventually, the school day was over, and they met up outside the school.

"So, Gyna, where are we going?" asked Satoshi, standing beside her, hands in his pockets. Gyna thought for a few seconds.

"Um, town."

"So, are we opting for the, 'Let's walk around randomly and show them places' approach?"

Gyna laughed. "Yeah."

"Cool."

"Are we leaving anytime soon?" asked Kyo, impatient.

Gyna nodded, and began walking towards town. "Yeah. We're leaving now." Before her friends caught up, Gyna's brow furrowed in thought. What was Hiei's problem? Gyna wanted answers, and she wanted them now, not at eleven that night. Gyna smoothed her features as her friends caught up to her.

They walked through the town, getting to know each other better. Satoshi and Momiji immediately reconnected. By the time they were done walking throughout the town, Momiji and Satoshi were best friends once again. Gyna said goodbye to the Sohma's and Satoshi, then walked home alone.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the driveway. Her father wasn't home yet. She walked into the empty house, made a sandwich, then went up to her room, spreading her schoolbooks onto her table. Gyna tried to do her homework, but she couldn't concentrate. She wanted to talk to Hiei.

Gyna slammed her book shut, and laid on her bed. If she was going to be awake at eleven she needed to take a nap. Gyna closed her eyes, and immediately drifted off to sleep. Four hours later, she woke up just as Hiei was coming in. She sat up in bed, covers falling off her shoulders.

"Hn. What do you want?"

Gyna took of her jacket, and tossed it onto the floor. "Hiei, why are you watching me?"

"It's my job."

"Is the toddler your boss?"

"I have to work for him."

"Or else you'll go to spirit prison?"

Hiei was surprised again. "How do you know about that?"

Gyna smirked. "I found a book of my father's. It mentioned spirit prison in there."

"Yes, or else I'll go to spirit prison."

"Hiei, why are you watching me?"

Hiei just looked at her. Suddenly, his pocket beeped. Out of it, he pulled a small, round, communicator. He snapped it open.

"Can I tell her?"

"I don't know. Let me ask Koenma." Hiei rolled his eyes. "Then why did you call?"

"I was going to tell you that Miko's sick, and I'm going to take some time off to take care of her."

"You could have told me later," was Hiei's reply. After a few seconds, the same voice issued out of the communicator.

"Koenma doesn't want you to tell her specifically, but you can tell her the basics."

Hiei nodded and snapped the communicator shut, looking up at Gyna. She was watching him expressionlessly. After seeing how open she was with her emotions, he hadn't realized that she could be expressionless as well.

"So?"

"So?"

"Are you going to tell me why you're watching me?"

"You have immeasurable power that has not yet matured. We are watching you to protect you and make sure it does not break out destructively."

"Why are you watching me?"

"I just answered that question," said Hiei, annoyed.

"No, this time my accent was on the 'you.' Why are you, you specifically watching me? Why not the silver haired guy?"

"Because Yoko is an idiot."

"From what I saw, you two are friends."

"I do not have friends."

Gyna shrugged. "Then make some."

"It's not that easy," said Hiei, trying not to get annoyed, and failing miserably.

"You're preaching to the choir." Gyna saw his confused expression and laughed. "Using human sayings is so fun around demons!" Hiei had once again smoothed his features. After a long, exaggerated eye roll, she explained. "It means that you're telling me something that I already know. People are jerks, human and demon alike. They're selfish, spoiled, and ignorant." Hiei cocked an eyebrow slightly. They were on the same wavelength, with was unusual. Unusual… but pleasant. "You know this, and I know this. It is insanely difficult to make friends with these… people." Gyna smiled slightly, and Hiei saw the mixture of old pain and relief in her eyes. "But you just have to find someone that you don't mind. That you enjoy being around."

"Hn. Are we done?"

"Yes, but first lets get some things straight. You will not watch me when I am changing or in the bathroom."

"As if anyone would want to watch a figureless woman."

Hiei turned back to the window. Before he could leave, a pillow hit him in the back of the head. He whipped around to find Gyna with her eyes wetter than usual, glaring ice daggers at him. "Well excuse me for being figureless!" Hiei had hurt her feelings. And he felt… bad about that. She stood up and walked to him. "Sorry I'm not as busty as the other women you've watched!" She raised her hand and slapped him. Or she would have if he had not caught her wrist in a bone-crushing grip.

"Do not touch me," he growled crimson eyes glaring into her green ones. Hiei realized that as her hair was turning silver, her eyes were turning gold. Her eyes flashed, and Hiei was suddenly pressed against the wall by a wall of ice. And it hurt. He glared at her as she stood triumphantly in front of him, arms crossed. Hiei smirked slightly and began melting the ice. She raised an eyebrow, and the ice suddenly turned to water, and water, he could not melt.

"While you're… hanging around, Hiei, let me make this clear to you." Gyna had begun to pace back and forth in front of him. A dark gray wolf tail had emerged, along with dark gray wolf ears on the top of her head. In spite of himself, Hiei was impressed. For somebody who had lived in the human world their entire life, she had commendable control over her powers. "As long as you are watching me, I now have the right to touch you whenever I want. Which will not be very often. Understand? And when you get back, ask your boss if the silver slash red haired guy can watch me." She released him, and he straightened his clothes.

"Hn." With a slight whoosh, he left through the open window. Sensing his aura gone, Gyna stuffed her face in a pillow and screamed. She was so frustrated.

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**Oh, poor Gyna. Don't you feel bad for her? I do. Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so fast this time! Yay for me!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except Gyna, and Gyna's friends and family.**

**Review, review!**

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**_Cursed Blessing_**

**by hanyou-samurai**

**Chapter 6**

Gyna woke up groggily the next morning, wondering why she was so tired. Then she remembered. She had used her demonic powers. Groaning, she rolled over. She hadn't used them in so long, that even a little use like last night had exhausted her. Gyna sat up, rubbing her eyes. She would have to train again if she wanted to be in top shape. She flopped back down. She decided to skip school that day.

Just as she was dozing off to sleep again, a light clink sounded on her window. Sitting bolt upright, she fell out of bed and lay on the blessedly dark floor for a few seconds, trying to regain her sense. Another clink on the window. Gyna got up, and opened her curtains to find a white haired boy chucking rocks at the glass. Gyna opened her window, and nearly fell out of it. She was so tired.

"What do you want Haru?" she asked, voice hoarse and gravelly. Haru grinned.

"You look awful."

"Thanks," said Gyna dryly. "Now back to my original question."

"The bus is coming in a few minutes."

"I'm not going today."

"Why?"

"I look awful, remember? And I'm tired."

Haru rolled his eyes. "Girls and their looks." Gyna smirked.

"We both know that if you looked as bad as I do, you wouldn't be going either."

Haru rolled his eyes. "I would not."

Gyna grinned. "Sure you wouldn't. You're as bad as a chick."

"Chick is a very discriminatory title. Call them wenches."

Gyna and Haru laughed, then Haru looked towards the bus stop. "The bus is coming." Gyna waved at him, grinning.

"Bye Haru. Have a good day at school!"

"Gyna-kun, I'm bringing you your work after school. You realize that, don't you?"

Gyna sighed and nodded. "Yeah." Haru waved and took off. He reached the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up.

"Gyna-kun, huh. I like it," mused Gyna, hand on her chin. She yawned, then returned to bed, too tired to acknowledge the demonic energy in the tree outside her window. It was Hiei's. He hadn't tried to have Kurama take over his job.

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Later that day, at about 2 o'clock, the silver haired girl woke up, and looked out her window. It was pouring. Looking at the tree through the still open window, she caught a flash of red eyes. She smirked. Sticking her head out the window, she called to him.

"Hiei, come in. You're getting soaked." With a slight rustle of cloth, her appeared inside her room, dripping wet. Gyna shook her head. "You could have come in before you know." Hiei didn't answer. Gyna got out of bed and got a towel out of her closet. Tossing it to him she walked back to her bed. It was then that Hiei noticed that even though she'd stuck her head out her window, she was perfectly dry. Gyna shut the window with a snap, then shook the blankets on her bed. They dried instantly.

Hiei, although he was rapidly drying, was still wet, so he rubbed the towel through his gravity-defying hair. His hair still stood up when wet, Gyna thought amusedly.

"What are you thinking about?" His deep voice cut into her thoughts. Gyna raised an eyebrow.

"Can't you just read my mind?"

"You threw me out the last time I tried."

Gyna grinned. "Yes, that is true. All right, I was thinking about how weird it is that even when your hair is wet, it stands up. Is it natural?" Hiei raised an eyebrow before nodding. This girl thought about very strange things. Gyna grinned. "I knew it!"

Gyna sat down on the floor, gesturing for Hiei to sit on the other side. He did so, still rubbing the towel through his hair. Suddenly, Gyna stood up, and walked out the bedroom door, picking up a teapot on the way out. A few seconds later, she returned, the teapot filled with water. She set it on the low table, then got tea leaves and two teacups out.

**(You know, the cool wooden ones with the spiral design on the outside that they have on Inuyasha?)**

"Hiei, can you boil that?" He looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Yes, boil it. You're obviously cold, and I want tea. Although considering, I didn't know fire demons **could** get cold. I guess you learn something new everyday." Hiei touched the teapot and the water boiled. Gyna smiled. "Thank you." She added the tea leaves, and a bit later, poured the tea. Smelling it, Hiei could tell she had done this before. Tasting it, Hiei could tell she was very good at this. The tea was delicious, and it warmed him up almost immediately. Gyna smiled, sensing the heat returning to his chilled body.

"So, did you talk to the redhead?" asked Gyna conversationally. Hiei choked, and Gyna watched him painfully swallow the tea. "I'll take that as a no." Gyna sighed. "I guess that's okay. I guess. But let's remember our little conversation yesterday, okay?"

"Hai."

Gyna smiled. "Alright. So, are you watching me all the time?" Hiei nodded. "Do you sleep in the tree?" Once again, Hiei nodded. "Sleep inside tonight." Noticing the confused expression in Hiei's eyes. "It's still going to be raining tonight."

"How do you know?"

"It comes with being a water demon. You can tell when the water is coming."

"Ah."

"Are you hungry?" Hiei shook his head. "Yes you are."

"If you knew that I was hungry, why did you ask?"

"Um… common courtesy?" Hiei made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. It took Gyna a few seconds to realize that Hiei was trying not to laugh. Gyna grinned. "I knew you weren't as emotionless as you seem!" The noise stopped, and Hiei's face was stony once again. Gyna sighed. "Hiei, showing emotions is not bad. Although I suppose in the Makai, it'd probably get you killed, but that's okay. You're not in the Makai anymore."

"How do you know so much?"

"I'm a genius." Hiei gave her the infamous Hiei look. "Kidding, kidding. My father has a lot of demon books."

"You can read demon script?" asked Hiei, impressed.

"My father taught me when I was little."

"So you've known you're a demon since you were small?"

"Hai." Gyna set her teacup down. "So, Hiei, are you just going to watch me for the rest of my life?" Hiei just looked at her. Gyna's eye twitched, just once, before Hiei was soaked once again. He shook a few strands of wet hair out of his eyes. "And even after that, you can't say anything? What are you, a mute?"

"I am not a mute."

"Then speak like somebody who can!" Gyna glared at the wet fire demon. "You are insufferably infuriating! Has anyone ever told you that? Maybe this is why you have no friends, and are pathologically antisocial!"

Hiei raised an eyebrow. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that and lived. But he couldn't kill Gyna. He would get thrown into spirit prison for all eternity, most likely. But he didn't want to kill Gyna. That was the funny thing. He didn't feel like killing her at all. In fact, even the mere thought of drawing his sword against her twisted his insides into knots. And he didn't know why. He would have to talk to the fox again. Maybe he could explain things.

The doorbell rang both Hiei and Gyna jumped. "Crap," muttered Gyna. "Hiei, you have to leave. Right now!"

"Why?"

"Because that's one of my human friends brining me my work that I missed today because I stayed home. And humans don't generally take well to demons. Go!" With a soft rustle, Hiei was gone. Gyna slammed the window shut before jumping down the stairs in two leaps. Stopping abruptly in front of the front door, she quickly groomed herself, looking much better than she had earlier, most likely from all the rest she'd gotten. She opened the door to find Haru standing on her doorstep, damp, pushing the hood off wet, white hair. He was pulling a textbook and some papers out from beneath his coat.

He grinned as he saw Gyna. "Hello. You look a lot better than you did."

Gyna rolled her eyes, sensing Hiei watching her from the tree. "Thanks Haru. That really builds up my self-esteem."

"What are you talking about? You have a whole bucketful of self-esteem."

Gyna laughed. "Do you want to come in?"

Haru shook his head. "No, thanks. Shigure drove me, since it's raining so hard, and he's in the car, waiting." Gyna looked behind Haru and noticed the dark blue jaguar for the first time. Haru handed her the book and papers. "Here's your homework. Everything is due tomorrow, except for the paper, which is due on Monday."

Gyna groaned, but nodded, and took her homework. "Bye Haru."

"Bye Gyna. See you tomorrow!" Haru put his hood over his hair and ran back to the car. Gyna closed the door, and turned around to find Hiei standing right behind her. She jumped.

"Do you have to do that? How did you get here so fast, anyway? You were just in the tree a few seconds ago."

Hiei smirked. "I'm fast."

"Obviously." Gyna walked into the kitchen, Hiei following her. She tossed her homework onto the table, then walked around the kitchen, opening cupboards, the fridge, and the freezer and taking things out. "Sit." Hiei sat down at the table as she began to make them lunch.

Twenty minutes later, she set two plates down, with a Japanese lunch on it. Hiei and Gyna snapped their chopsticks and began to eat in silence. Hiei had gone into a slightly meditative state, and Gyna was reading one of the chapters for her homework.

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**Yes, I realize I stopped at a weird place, but I'm okay with that. Yes, I realize it's short, but the next chapter is going to speed the story up considerably, so bear with me until I finish chapter 7. Review, review!**

**And, because I am so nice, here's a preview of the next chapter.**

_**Gyna stared as two people she never thought she'd see again walked into the kitchen.**_

**Yes, that's it. enjoy!**


	7. Chapter 7

Last chapter, I noticed a plot hole: Gyna leaves to fill up the teapot with water, even though she is a water demon. She did this because she is still tired from using her powers, so she didn't want to use them again. Also, when Haru says: Chick is a very discriminatory title. Call them wenches," is the exact thing my sister said to me one time. I was talking about some girls at school, and I call girls chicks (even though I am female) and my sister said, "Chick is a very discriminatory title. Call them wenches." I thought it was hilarious. Okay, anywho, onto the disclaimers!

I do not own Fruits Basket, Yuyu Hakusho, or um, anything else that is licensed. I own Gyna, her friends and family, and Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi.

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**Cursed Blessing**

Chapter 7

With Gyna studying, and Hiei sitting in an emo silence, the kitchen was very quiet, with just the occasional rustle of cloth, of the sound of a page turning. Then came a clunk on the door, startling both demons.

"Hiei-" Gyna didn't get to finish her sentence, for as soon as he has heard the noise, Hiei was gone. Gyna's stomach was still tightened in knots as she heard footsteps on the floor. It was her father but… there were two more pairs of footsteps wit him. She closed her eyes, letting her sense spread out. She felt her fathers' demonic energy, but there were two humans with him. Gyna's first thought was fear.

_Oh please no, please no, I'll be good, I'll stay out of everybody's way, just please let it not be them, oh please._

It seemed that whatever deity Gyna was praying to wasn't listening.

Her father walked in. Gyna stared as two people she never thought she'd see again walked into the kitchen. The woman standing right behind her father, Samuel, was thin, blonde, and tight-lipped. Her name was Vivian. The girl behind the two was Gyna's age. Also blonde, a bit on the heavy side, preppy, with her lips in a permanent pout. Her clothes revealed a wide expanse of fatty stomach. Gyna's immediate thought? _That is not something I need to see so soon after eating._

Gyna sprang up, almost knocking the chair over. She glared in shock, anger, and astonishment.

"What are **they** doing here?"

"Did you not teach the bumpkin manners?" Vivian asked, as if she were much better bred than Gyna.

Samuel shrugged. "It was her mother."

Fury rose in Gyna. Whenever that woman was around. Her father would act as if she and her mother were mistakes. The anger grew until it consumed. She bit her lip until it bled to keep from screaming at him. How he could be sober and be with this woman was a mystery to Gyna.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, wiping the blood from her cheek. For once she didn't check to see if Hiei was listening.

Surprisingly, Vivian answered. "Well, Jackie and I were out, and Samuel was out, and we ran into each other, and Samuel promised to not be a drunk anymore, and we got together again.

When Gyna's mother had died, Samuel had become an alcoholic. He'd gone through a six-month period of soberness, married Vivian, who already had Jackie. Then, he started drinking again and Vivian left. Apparently her stepmother was back.

"Now, my dear," said Vivian in a sickly sweet voice. Gyna's jaw clenched. She hated it when people called her 'dear.' "Let's not have a repeat of last time, okay honey? No more of your… unusualness, alright?"

Gyna glared, long nails biting gouges in her palms. Blood dripped onto the floor. The water and ice in her and Hiei's glasses began to shake. The water left over in the sink, and the few drops on the floor began to shake too. The rain suddenly pounded harder on the roof, smashing into the windows. The panes of glass began to rattle from the force of the water hitting them.

"Do you mean this unusualness?" she hissed icily. Her hair suddenly turned all silver.

"Gyna, calm down!" yelled Samuel over the loud rain. Slowly, the water stopped shaking, and the rain eased up considerably. "That's better. Now, they'll be moving in, of course, so you'll have to share your bathroom with Jackie." Samuel suddenly noticed that there were two plates of food on the table. His eyes narrowed. "Who was here?"

"My friend brought me homework, and I invited him in for lunch."

"**Him**?"

"Yes, him."

"Why did he have to bring you homework?"

"Would you stop giving me the third degree? He brought me homework because I stayed home from school today."

Vivian spoke up. "Gyna, skipping school is bad for you."

"I didn't skip. This morning I didn't feel good, and I was really tired, so I stayed home."

"You didn't feel good so you made him lunch?" spat Samuel, incredulous.

"I felt better after I slept all day."

"You keep changing your story," said Vivian.

Gyna grabbed her book and began to walk up to her room. "This good-cop, bad-cop routine? Very entertaining. Needs a bit of work though. There seems to be an unwelcome third party in the house."

"Gyna! Come back here and apologize for being rude!" yelled Samuel, but Gyna was halfway up the stairs.

"You're all bakas," she said, then he heard her door close.

"What does baka mean?" asked Vivian.

"It means fool," said Samuel, using the nicer meaning of the word. He was certain she had not meant that meaning.

Gyna sat on her bed, fists clenched, body tense. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. The breaths just succeeded in making her even angrier. She needed to fly. Gyna hadn't flown in a long time, but this rainstorm was the perfect time.

Swiftly, Gyna changed into form-fitting black jeans, and a white tank top, with ragged holes cut in the back. It was easier to have the holes cut earlier so her wings didn't have to burst through skin **and** cloth. She opened her window, and wet wind rushed into her room. She had one foot out the window, when the door opened, and in walked Vivian. Gyna glared.

"What do you want?"

"Let's get one thing clear, **Gyna**. As your stepmother, you must obey me. No more rebelliousness. No trouble. No displays of how much of a freak you are."

Gyna's eyes hardened. "I am not a freak. I could kill you if I had the whim. Do not expect me to just submit to you." With that, Gyna turned back to the window and jumped out of it, arms spread wide. Vivian ran to the window just in time to see Gyna soar into the sky, red-black dragon wings spread from her back. Crimson blood ran down her back where the wings had burst through the skin. Eventually, if Gyna used her wings often enough, they could come out without making her bleed. Vivian glared and slammed the window shut before stalking out of the room.

Gyna soared into the sky, the rain soaking her. She twisted and dipped, letting the incessant pounding of the rain calm her. It ran through her, as if she were made of wind. Anybody else caught in the rain would have felt that the icy, pounding drops were annoying, but not Gyna. To her, each drop had a life, a story. Gyna let her sense be overcome by the water.

She climbed. Higher and higher she flew, until the air was pure. She climbed higher still, until she could barely breath. She then pointed towards the ground, folded her wings close to her body, and plummeted.

Hiei had been following her, and he now stood at the top of a two hundred foot tree, watching the girl fall. She had her eyes closed, and Hiei thought she'd passed out. When she was about a hundred feet above him, he jumped, ready to catch her. A few feet before he got to her, her eyes opened and she gasped, wings already spreading. She couldn't stop them, and she slammed full force into Hiei. They fell, Gyna struggling for control against the wind currents who, a few seconds before, had been her friends, but now seemed intent on killing her and Hiei.

Down for a hundred feet, until Gyna finally grabbed a branch about halfway down the tree, and grabbed Hiei's hand with her other hand. The impact nearly wrenched her arms out of their sockets, and Gyna gritted her teeth. Her wings had gotten caught in the branches, leaving them stranded.

"Well… this is fun." Gyna closed her eyes, and her wings eased back into her back.

With a snap the branch Gyna had been hanging onto broke, Hiei and Gyna fell to the ground, neither able to recover in time to stop it. Gyna's fall was cushioned by the fire demon, however.

Her skin was cool, but not cold, as he'd expected it to be. She was soaked, but didn't seem to mind. Hiei had to force a blush down as he realized that she was wearing white, and she was soaked.

Gyna stood up, soaked clothes clinging to her body like a second skin. She turned around and offered Hiei a hand, pushing wet silver hair back from her face. He ignored the hand and stood up. Gyna rolled her eyes, and turned towards her house, which happened to be right in front of them.

"Remember Hiei, come in tonight, or else you'll get sick and die." Gyna opened the door to her and house, and with a jaunty little wave behind her, walked inside and closed the door. Hiei jumped up into his usual tree, and settled down for a few hours of miserable cold until he could go inside.

Gyna closed the door behind her, and walked into the house.

"Gyna! Where have you been?" snapped her father from the living room where he'd been watching TV.

"Oh, you know, what I do in my spare time. Robbing, killing, cow tipping, you know, all that fun stuff." Samuel mouthed several words, but couldn't seem to come up with a response. Especially to that last one.

_Genius Gyna. Pure genius,_ she thought to herself, walking into the kitchen to find Jackie eating her pocky. Of course, as any person knows, that is a serious sin that must be punished for.

"What are you doing?" Jackie glanced up at her, then continued eating. "That's my pocky."

"I don't see your name on it." Gyna grabbed the empty box from the table and turned it towards her. 'Gyna' was written clearly in permanent marker. Jackie shrugged. "Oh well. You have to learn to share you know. All thought I guess they don't teach sharing to freaks in preschool."

That was it. Gyna had had it. "Listen, you fat slut, and listen well, if all that fat hasn't clogged your ears." Jackie opened her mouth, but Gyna cut her off. "This is my house, and as far as I am concerned, you and your mother are unwelcome guests. Personally, I couldn't care less what you do, as long as you leave my stuff alone, and stay out of my way!" Unfortunately, she had said this just as Vivian and Samuel had walked in.

Rage spread across Samuel's face as Jackie burst into tears. "Gyna, you're grounded!"

"From what, all the parties I get invited to? All the social gatherings I go to?"

"Yes!"

"Do you have any idea what kind of screwed up misconception you have of my life?" Gyna turned and stalked out of the room up to her bedroom. When she got there, she locked her door, opened her window, and gestured for Hiei to come in. He did so, shivering violently. Gyna got towels for him. After he'd dried himself off a bit, she finished the job with a wave of her hand, then thrust a blanket at him. All of this was done without talking.

He sat against the wall, sword leaning against on shoulder, blanket covering his shivering frame. He felt like a pervert as he watched Gyna walk around her room. She was still wearing her wet clothes. He could see through the tank top, and he jeans were so tight on her they looked sewn on. Gyna paced, letting her anger run out of her into the floor. She reached down and touched the hem of her shirt, then remember Hiei was in her room.

"I'm going to take a shower," she said, then left the room, shutting it behind her. Hiei took a deep calming breath and let it out slowly. This girl was different. She was fundamentally different. Twenty minutes later, she came back, wet hair dripping, wearing a towel. She grabbed some clothes and changed in her walk in closet. Coming out, she had on a long sleeved white shirt with a short-sleeved black shirt under it, and pajama pants.

She sat down, facing Hiei, trying to breathe calmly. Hiei saw it was an effort to stop pacing, she was that angry.

"Keeping your anger locked inside of you is not a good idea." Gyna took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

"What am I supposed to do then Hiei?"

"Train."

"Train?"

"Yes. Until you exhaust yourself."

Gyna looked to the side, looking uncomfortable. "Hiei, I can hold my own in a fist fight with humans… but I don't know how to use any weapons, especially a sword." Hiei raised an eyebrow, and Gyna looked down.

"Why did you mention a sword?"

Instead of answering, Gyna stood up and walked to her closet. Hiei followed her, and saw that inside of it was a small alter for her mother. On a stand on a wooden box, sat two katanas. Samurai katanas, one short, one long. Hiei was very impressed. His sword was forged by demons, and he knew that katanas like these cost thousands, if not millions of dollars in the human world. Without even unsheathing the swords, he could tell they were in perfect condition. Gyna sensed his unspoken question.

"They were my mothers. My father was going to get rid of them, but I begged him not to. Eventually, he let me keep them, but he refused to let me learn how to use them."

"Do you want to learn?" Gyna turned her head so fact her neck cracked. She was staring up at him in astonishment.

"Can you teach me?"

Hiei nodded, then turned and went back to his spot on the floor. "Change into something flexible, take your katanas, then we will leave. Gyna nodded. When she came out of the closet, she was wearing the black t-shirt, and slightly more stable black pants then her pajama pants. The binding on the swords was a dark red instead of the usual dark blue. She held the swords firmly but gently, and Hiei knew in that moment that these swords were her treasure, and she would guard them with her life. Hiei stood up, opened the window, and stepped out of it. Gyna followed him. The rain had eased up till it was a light drizzle. Hiei turned his back to her.

"Get on."

Gyna was confused. "What?"

"Get on." It clicked. Gyna shook her head violently.

"Uh-uh. Nope. No way."

Hiei looked over his shoulder at her. "On. Now. If you do not, it will take you a long time to walk to that training ground." Gyna sighed, resigned, and climbed onto his hot back, gripping her swords tightly. Hiei wound his hands under her legs, keeping her on his back. Gyna wrapped her arms tightly around his neck after securing her swords to make sure they wouldn't fall off.

Without warning, Hiei took off. Gyna, who had never moved at this speed before, had her eyes closed tight, arms almost choking Hiei. About thirty seconds later, Hiei stopped, and Gyna fell off, nearly dropping her swords. When she had regained hr sense of balance, and assured herself that she was not still moving. When she had, she stood up and looked around her. They were in a large clearing, surrounded by dense trees. She raised an eyebrow at him. He ignored it.

"So… do we just hang out?"

"We are going to train."

"Ah."

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Okay, wow, for me, that was up quick. Review! Reviews make me happy!

Next time: Training! With Hiei!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Okay, finally, I know! Kudos for me just for making myself finish this. Home and family life sucks, and I'm tired and depressed… but through it all, I finished it! Yay for me!**

**Okay, disclaimer:**

**I do not own Fruits Basket, Yuyu Hakusho, or any characters, trademarks, or logos relating to either series. I do not own any other things mentioned that are copywrited.**

**I do own: Gyna, Gyna's family, and Gyna's friends.**

**Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi. (a.k.a. Miko)**

**Tolea owns the wolf who will be mentioned. However, his name has not been mentioned yet, so… I'll just keep you guessing. Smirks**

**Oh, and much thanks to Tolea and Neko-Koorime. Tolea, you're reviews (and you're character, which honestly made ideas flow like… flowing things) gave me inspiration and helped me finish this chapter, and… Neko-Koorime. You finishing the next chapter of ****An American YYH**** (which is amazing, go read it) gave me the last spurt of that, 'Oh, I should finish this' that I needed. So… thank you!**

**Okay, if anybody bothered to read this far down, here's the chapter!**

* * *

_**Cursed Blessing**_

**Chapter 8 **

_"We are going to train."_

_"Ah."_

Hiei rolled his eyes, and removed his sword, with its belt, laying it almost lovingly against a tree. Gyna smiled. He was just like a child with a favorite toy. It was cute.

Hiei turned around, and Gyna wiped the smirk off of her face before he could see it. He quirked an eyebrow, and Gyna knew she hadn't gotten rid of the smile in time. The eyebrow fell, and Gyna's eyes lost their mirth.

"If you are finished, we shall continue." Gyna rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

_You sound like an old grandfather._ Hiei just looked at her, not responding to her mind message.

She sighed. "Fine, fine, I'm done."

"Put your katanas by mine."

He was not amused.

Gyna did so, no longer teasing him. After laying her swords gently on the grass by Hiei's katana, she walked back to the middle of the clearing before spinning and facing Hiei.

"Now what?"

"Stretch."

Gyna cocked her head to one side. "What?"

"Stretch."

"I heard you the first time."

"Then why did you question me?"

Gyna's jaw clenched, and she took a deep breath, slowly relaxing the muscles in her mouth. He was the most infuriating man she had ever met. "I said what, not because I didn't hear you, but because I was questioning you."

"Why were you questioning me?"

Gyna was annoyed. "You tell me to stretch, assuming I know how. You presume too much, Hiei."

Hiei's jaw clenched. It was at times like this that he really wanted to switch jobs with the fox. But he knew that it would take a lot of effort for him to convince Kurama to switch jobs with him. And Hiei was still unsure whether or not he wanted to expend that much effort, or even if he was positive that he wanted to switch.

Instead of answering her, he examined her.

Her arms crossed across her chest, she was glaring at him. She seemed at ease, but Hiei knew that if he attacked her, or tried to harm her swords, she would do anything in her power to stop him. Even though her style was self-taught and crude, it was undeniably effective. Although Hiei's style was also self-taught, at least partly, his wasn't crude. Living in the Makai, the demon world, his whole life had given him grace, as it did with most other demons.

He could smell blood on her. Several demons, and a single human. The smell of that human's blood drowned every other scent out. The smell of blood that lingers after you have brutally slaughtered somebody never fades, whether it was intentional or not, brutal or merciful and gentle. It stains you, marks you as one of the damned. And Hiei knew that he reeked of it.

Coming back to the present, Hiei opened his eyes. He'd closed them when he'd smelled the blood that drenched her soul. He nearly jumped back. Gyna was standing right in front of him. Instead of jumping, he merely rocked back on his heels slightly.

"You smell like blood."

Hiei was surprised. Most demons could smell the blood. The already condemned smelled it the strongest.

Gyna gently wrapped her hand around Hiei's right hand. He flinched as she touched him and tried to pull away. Her grip tightened, and she pulled his hand up. His sleeve was stained red with still wet blood. She pushed his sleeve back. A straight cut was across the back of his wrist. It was pretty deep. Not enough to kill him, but enough to bleed a lot.

Hiei remembered then. He realized why such painful pleasure was coursing through his veins. And there were other scars. Many, many scars. He'd started accumulating them since he was five. Since the first time he'd realized the truth. He was unwanted, unloved, dangerous. A mistake.

Gyna didn't say anything about the scars, and there was no way she couldn't notice them. The pearly white marks, on his flesh. When light hit them they seemed to shine with an almost luminous light, like the moon.

Gyna just pulled his hand closed. "Let me clean it."

Hiei wrenched his hand out of her grasp.

"Don't touch me!"

Before he had time to blink, he was slammed against a tree, with iron hard bands around his stomach, feet, and hands. With a whoosh, all the air in his lungs went out. As he struggled to regain his breath around the unforgiving bands, he heard two loud snaps. The bands weren't iron though. They were water. Hiei looked up and glared at Gyna. Her arms were crossed once again, and she was returning his glare. Impressive, since it took a lot of nerve to return the superheated glare of a fire demon. Her glare, however, was icy, and put Hiei's fire-glare out.

"I am going to bandage your hand. Now, we can do this the hard way, with you shoved against a tree, or the easy way, with you just sitting there quietly."

Hiei continued to glare at Gyna for a few seconds before closing his eyes and turning his head to the side.

"Fine. Let me down." Gyna obliged, and the fire demon crumpled to the ground. He lay there a few seconds as air filled his deflated lungs. He stood up slowly. Two of his ribs were cracked, the rest badly bruised. Hiei figured that she didn't know her own strength. She was very strong for having lived in the human world her whole life.

Gyna sat down and pointed to the spot in front of her. "Sit." He did so gingerly.

Taking his hand in her right hand, she pointed her left pointer finger at the cut. Holding his hand sideways, a steady stream of water fell from her finger. The water was slightly cooler than Hiei's skin, which was very, very warm. It felt good as it washed away the sluggishly flowing blood, cooling the wound, which was hotter than his skin.

The water stopped, and Gyna let go of his hand. Reaching down, she tore several strips from her shirt, and wrapped the cloth around his wound firmly, tying a knot. Hiei was too preoccupied to notice the blue eyes staring at them from the forest. A few seconds later, the eyes were gone.

The two stood, and Hiei proceeded to show her how to stretch.

When they were done, Hiei picked up their swords. He put his own back on and, holding the end of the sheaths, he gave her swords back to her. She took them, grasping the katanas right under their hilts.

"We're leaving."

Gyna opened her mouth to complain, then closed it, looking bewildered.

"Why?"

Hiei turned and glared at her. She flinched.

"Thanks to your little stunt with the water, two of my ribs are broken," he growled turning his back to her.

"I'm sorr-"

"We're leaving." Gyna flinched at his harsh voice. She nodded, even though he couldn't see, and climbed onto his back, holding her katanas tightly.

When they arrived back at her home, she slid off his back.

"Hiei…" He looked over his shoulder, and her words died in her throat at his look of utter and complete hate. Her lip trembled, just once.

She bowed, and hurried into her house. Hiei disappeared as soon as she'd turned away from him. Shoulders slumped, head down, sky beginning to cry again, she went inside her house.

Hiei appeared in his room, fury apparent on his face. Grabbing a role of bandages, he sat down stiffly on his futon, and removed his shirt. Gingerly, he began to wrap the bandages around his stomach and torso, muttering to himself. A click came from his door, and it slid open, revealing Kurama. The fox walked into the room, sliding the door closed behind him.

"Stupid woman… too strong… temperamental… bipolar…"

"Do you want some help?" asked the redhead, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of his voice. He couldn't help but be surprised, and happy, to see his best friend worked up over a girl.

Hiei glanced up at Kurama, the superheated glare of a fire demon smoldering in his eyes. Kurama, being the smart, sensitive demon that he was, he immediately recognized what the clearly conveyed answer was: no.

Hiei let out a small noise of pain as he pulled the bandages too tight. Kurama sighed, shook his head, hands on his hips, and, with a small smile, walked forward and knelt on the futon, reaching forward to help with the bandages.

"I don't need any help."

Kurama continued to wrap the bandages. "Yes you do. Raise your arms." Hiei did so, slowly and painfully.

After a few seconds of silence, Kurama spoke. "So how did it go?" Hiei gave him a lot of utter disbelief before the anger consumed him again.

"How did it go? Why, quite well. It was a very. Pleasant. Experience." Hiei gave a very forced smile, before scowling again.

"No need to be sarcastic," said Kurama as he finished tying the knot to Hiei's bandages.

Hiei examined the professional bandaging job around his stomach. He nodded his thanks at Kurama before pulling his shirt back on.

"I'll bring some plants by later to help with the healing." Hiei nodded, gingerly lowering his arms again. As Kurama was leaving, he stopped in front of the door he had just opened.

"Oh, and Hiei?" Hiei barely glanced at him.

"What?"

"Koenma decided that you couldn't handle watching her alone, so he's putting Miko on the case too." Hiei glared at Kurama.

"And since when does Koenma doubt my competency?" Kurama smiled slightly.

"He doesn't doubt your competency. He doubts… your ability to concentrate when she's around."

"**That**, Kurama, is doubting my competency!" Hiei nearly looked like he was pouting. However, since he was a powerful fire demon, he did not pout. "And her being around does not affect my concentration at all!"

Kurama suppressed a smile. Hiei's reaction, combined with what Yoko was chattering into his ear, was very amusing.

"Yoko wants to talk to you." Before Hiei could agree, Kurama was engulfed in a silver smoke for a few seconds, and then it disappeared, leaving the fox demon standing there.

"And what do you want to talk to me about?" Hiei asked coolly. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Yoko.

"Well Hiei, you say that you can concentrate fine with her around. Then tell me, oh great and wondrous fire demon, why was she able to break your ribs, and trap you against her wall?" Hiei didn't even try to come up with an answer, and he just glared at Yoko.

"Oh, and I have another tidbit of information for you. A wolf has recently moved into the area."

"A wolf? As in, a wolf animal, or a wolf demon?" Yoko shrugged.

"Don't know." Hiei raised an eyebrow. He still wanted to be angry, but he was too curious about this mysterious wolf, and he knew that if he got angry with Yoko, the fox might not tell him anything. The silver haired demon was very fickle in that way.

"How can you not know?" Yoko smiled, showing his sharp, pointed teeth.

"Because we don't know. Koenma thinks he might have been a wolf at one point in time, but, well, he's not anymore. He possesses enormous strength. And, since he's a wolf, you might have some competition, Hiei."

"Competition? For what?" Hiei was genuinely confused. Yoko laughed out loud.

"Never mind. If you don't know yet, who am I to spoil the fun?"

"Yoko, just tell me!"

Yoko shook his head, grinning.

"Nope. Now, be quiet, or else I won't finish telling you this wondrous bit of information." With a tremendous force of will, Hiei was silent.

"Good. Now, be very cautious of him. All that Koenma was able to unearth was his connection to an assassin organization.

Hiei was silent for a few moments. "Which one?"

"The Akai Ha."

Hiei's eyes widened. The Akai Ha. The Crimson Blades. The most powerful and deadly assassination organization ever. And Gyna was being targeted by them.

"The Crimson Blades," he breathed. "So the girl is being targeted by them."

Yoko nodded. "That's what we think. It may just be a coincidence, but, well, as they always say-"

Hiei finished the sentence for him. "There are no coincidences in this game."

Yoko nodded. "Exactly. So I'm warning you, be wary. Even you don't have the power to go up against the Akai." Hiei nodded. Yoko, even though he was a flirt and sometimes got on Hiei's nerves, was Hiei's friend, and almost always gave good advice.

"Well, I'm off!" Hiei nodded and lay down. "Why Hiei! Don't you want to know where I'm going?" cried Yoko, shocked.

"… Not really."

"Fine. I'll tell you anyway. I'm going to see Miko!"

"… Good for you. Now leave me in peace."

"Don't you want to know **why** I'm going to go see her?"

"Because she's your girlfriend, and she's sick?"

Yoko opened and closed his mouth a few times. "Well… yes…"

"Good. Then go. I'm tired, and I want to sleep."

Yoko gave an overdramatic sigh. "Alright, alright. I'm leaving. I'll bring some plants later."

"Yes, Kurama already told me that." Yoko sighed again.

"You just want to ruin all my fun, don't you?"

"Yoko!"

"Fine! I'm leaving, I'm leaving!" And with that, Yoko huffed out of the room, looking highly offended that he had gotten thrown out."

Yoko had locked the door behind him, for which Hiei was grateful, because he wouldn't have to force his sore and broken body to get up.

Hiei's eyes closed, and he thought, _It's going to be a long week,_ right as he drifted off, blocking the throbbing pain in his stomach and head.

_A very long week._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _

"Miko, my dear, how are you feeling?" Yoko waltzed into Sumiko Takashi's room. Miko glanced up from the book she was reading.

"Hey Yoko."

Yoko sat at the table gracefully. "How are you feeling?"

She set her book down.

"I'm fine." She wasn't smiling, and Yoko immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Sometimes, Yoko could be very blunt.

Miko sighed. "Koenma gave me a new assignment."

"I know. You're helping Hiei watch the girl… what was her name?" Kurama said her name in his ear. "Ah, yes, Gyna. You're helping him watch Gyna. Why is that bad?"

"Yoko… I have to… go to… a human school!"

* * *

**A/N I wasn't going to end it there… but then I decided to! Aren't I evil? Wow, sorry this took so long. Read and review, please!**


	9. Chapter 9

I've had this chapter sitting on my laptop for a long time, and I'm only now getting around to posting it. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: I edited out Yuki and Tohru, because they did absolutely nothing for the plot. So, the only Fruits Basket characters so far are Kyo, Momiji, Haru, and Shigure.

I own Gyna, Satoshi, and Gyna's family. Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi. Tolea-String-PurpleChoco-Mage owns the wolf!

* * *

Cursed Blessing

by hanyou-samurai

Chapter 9

Sitting on her bed, dripping wet, knees drawn to her chest, Gyna buried her head into her arms, which were resting on her knees, and cried. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She had just wanted to get closer to him, and she had ended up breaking his ribs!

She had seen his scars. He had so many. But she had just as many.

You wouldn't think so. After all, she wore short sleeve shirts all the time, right? Tank tops too. But nobody could see the scars, because she hid them. Not with makeup. Not with cloth. With demon magic.

Hiei knew she had amazing control, for having lived in the human world her whole life. He just didn't know how extraordinary her control actually was. She had learned to bend light. Now, how would a demon that controls water and ice know how to bend light? The answer is in the power of water.

When light hits water, the light is splintered as it passes through the liquid. So, if you have the ability to control how water bends and moves and twists, you have the ability to control how light is reflected from it.

Explained scientifically, it sounded pretty cool. It sounded awesome. But then the whole idea sunk in, and you realized, 'What could you do with the power to bend light?' For most people, it would be, 'Make it look like I'm in class. Fool people. Let me be able to steal stuff.' But Gyna had found another, more… unconventional use for it. She could hide her cuts, and bruises, and her scars.

She could use the water in her own body, and bend the light that hit her so that her scars would be hidden. She did it all the time. In fact, it wasn't really a conscious decision anymore. She did it without thinking about it. Hiding her scars was like breathing. She was scared of letting people see the scars. She wouldn't let them see. Because they'd try to help her. And she didn't need their pity. She didn't want their pity. If they saw her scars, they would know that she was insane. Even though she exuded the aura of a born loner, someone who liked to be alone, and didn't need friends.

But in reality, she needed friends. She **longed** for them. She was so, so lonely. She had hoped that perhaps, over time, she and Hiei could become friends. Someone she could talk to, could cry to. Yes, she had Satoshi, but she felt like she couldn't confide in him. To the best of her knowledge, he didn't know that she was a demon, and she couldn't tell him. His friendship was too important to her. If she lost him, she didn't know how she could go on.

She drew the knife across her arm again, mind in a stupor. She could barely feel the pain. Her mind was in a haze, and she liked it that way. In the haze, you couldn't feel. You couldn't think. All that was there was silence. And she reveled in it.

A sharp knock came on her door. Gyna jumped and dropped the knife. It was sticky with blood, and stuck to her sheets.

"Just a minute!" she called, panicked. She threw her sheets over the sticky mess that was now in her bed. She hurriedly wiped up the blood that was spilling from her arm, and cast the illusion over her skin once again. She was hoping, praying, that the bleeding, which had slowed, wouldn't drip off her arm. She walked to her door and opened it a crack. Outside stood Jackie.

"What do you want?" the silver haired girl asked icily.

"You have crap in the bathroom. Clean it up." Gyna was at a loss for words while she thought of what she had in the bathroom. Soap; shampoo; conditioner; toothbrush; razor; hairbrush; face wash; toothpaste; and a few clips and ties for her hair. The bare minimum a person needed, and way less than most other teenage girls had.

"But there's nothing in there," said Gyna, genuinely confused.

"There's not enough room for my stuff, so get your crap out of the bathroom."

"But there's nothing there."

"Get all your crap out of the bathroom!" Jackie yelled, turning on her heel and striding away. Gyna opened the door wider.

"But there's nothing there!" she called down the hallway, enjoying riling Jackie up, but still confused about what 'crap' Jackie was talking about. She shrugged and closed her door, returning to her bed.

Gyna grimaced as she pulled her blankets down once again. The blood had stained her sheets red, and Gyna knew that it would be impossible to get out. Nevertheless, she still stripped her bed of the bloodstained blankets. She carried them and the knife into the bathroom, and held the bloody parts over the bathtub, turning on ice-cold water. She got most of the blood out, but a slight discoloring remained in the black sheets. She sighed, and made a pinching motion over the wet areas. Out of the cloth came a thin tendril of water. Gyna moved her hand close to the drain, and dropped the water. As soon as she opened her fingers the water had lost its shape. After that, she rinsed the knife clean, and dried it the same way.

Gyna returned to her room and remade her bed, slipping her knife under her pillow. She always slept with it, figuring that it was a good idea to have a weapon handy in case of an attack. She was slightly paranoid.

Falling onto her bed, Gyna sighed, running a hand through her long silver hair. It was only 6:30, too early for bed, too late to do anything interesting or productive. She glanced at the window. The rain had eased, but it was still raining hard. She sighed again. She didn't feel like cutting herself anymore. The depression and anger was still there, of course, as it always was, but now she lacked initiative to do anything about it. She closed her eyes.

A tap came on her closed window. Gyna opened her eyes, and looked out the window. The redhead she had seen in her dream was crouching outside of her window. Gyna hurried to the window and opened it.

"May I?" he asked politely. Gyna nodded and the redhead swept in, dripping water on the floor. Gyna made the pinching motion towards him and pulled. All of the water in his clothes and hair came out, and she tossed it towards the window. It fell out of it, and she closed the glass, turning to him. He nodded at her.

"Thank you." Gyna sat at the low table and gestured for him to do the same, which he did so.

"So, who are you and why are you here?" she asked pleasantly. So far, she liked him a lot more than she liked**Hiei**, that's for sure, she thought, still angry at the fire demon and sad that she had hurt him.

"My name is Shuuichi Minamino." Gyna raised an eyebrow with a disbelieving smile. He smiled as well.

"Alright. Call me Kurama. Hiei is my friend, and I work with him."

"Is the only reason you're working because otherwise you'll go to spirit prison?"

Kurama smiled and gave a half nod, half shrug. "Yes. I also like to help people." Gyna nodded. That was nice of him.

"Alright, so, why are you here?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"I think that I will probably be appointed your new protector." Gyna raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Did Hiei finally talk to you?" Kurama shook his head, keeping the confusion out of his face.

"Well, you do know that you broke two of his ribs, right?" Gyna nodded guiltily.

"I didn't mean to! I was just trying to help!" She added in an undertone, "But whenever I try to help, I end up screwing up, so why do I even bother?" She pushed her silver hair back. Kurama didn't answer, even though he had heard what she had said under her breath. She was filled with self-loathing, and he knew that if he tried it would just be counter-productive.

"So Kurama, why do I need a protector? I've never needed one before now."

Kurama glanced furtively around as if afraid that someone was listening. He leaned closer to her and said in a lowered voice, "You're now being targeted by an assassin organization called the Akai Ha."

Gyna cocked her head to the side, seemingly unfazed by the knowledge she had just been told. "What does that mean, Akai Ha?" she asked.

"The Crimson Blades." She paled, and swallowed hard. She had heard the English name, not the Japanese one. She swallowed again before she could push the fear back enough to speak.

"The Crimson Blades huh?" She let out shaky and spiteful laughter, full of hurt and hate. "Well, maybe they'll finish the job that my father's been trying to for a while."

"Don't talk like that. Suicide hurts more than just you." Gyna slammed her hand on the table, stopping his lecture before it had even begun.

"Get out," she spat. "What I do with my life is not your business, nor will it ever become your business. Get. Out." Kurama inclined his head.

"As you wish. But there will be a new student in your school in the next few days, and she will be watching you at the school." Gyna didn't answer, merely glared. And with a slight stirring of wind, Kurama was gone, leaving the window open behind him. Gyna stood and was about to slam the window closed before she thought better of it. Instead, she climbed out of the window, wincing as her back let out a twinge of pain as she climbed to the highest part of the roof. She hadn't used her wings in a long time, and because of that, her back, where they had burst out, hurt.

Sitting on the roof, she drew her knees to her chest and let the rain caress her body, chilling it. But she was all right with that. She liked to be cold. She hated to be too hot. Gyna lay down, and closed her eyes. She fell asleep with the rain soaking her to the skin.

"Oy, Gyna!" Gyna jerked and woke, opening her eyes. She hissed and closed them. Why was she outside? Why did it have to be so bright?

"Gyna!" Gyna squinted her eyes and rolled over. Her back hurt, both from her wings and from sleeping on the roof. She looked out over the edge, and found Haru on the street right outside her house. He was sweaty, and dressed in sweatpants and a tank top. He had obviously been running.

"Hello."

"Why are you on the roof?" Gyna shrugged.

"Cause I slept up here last night."

"But it was raining." Gyna shrugged again, standing.

"I know." She stretched. "Hey, when does the bus come?" Haru looked at his watch.

"An hour and a half." Gyna nodded.

"Okay. Thanks. Y'know, I think I might take a shower, it it's not taken."

"Taken? I thought you were an only child." Gyna rolled her eyes.

"My dad got remarried to the same lady he got remarried to a few years ago, and she has this bratty daughter our age, and that daughter has taken over my bathroom. Wait… how did you know I'm an only child?"

"Satoshi and I were talking about it yesterday." Gyna raised an eyebrow.

"You guys were talking about me?" To Gyna's surprised, Haru blushed slightly.

"Well, we were just kind of talking and you came up. Look, I have to go now. So, um see you later?"

"Yeah, see you. Have fun running." Haru nodded, then headed for home. To Gyna's surprise, he sprinted. She hadn't expected him to do that. Gyna yawned and stretched, climbing back into her room. It was freezing, since the window had been open all night, and damp. But she liked it that way.

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Now, review! 


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, here's another chapter. Thank you, everybody who read this, and reviewed it! It makes me happy. My special thanks to Neko-Koorime, for her review that asked me to put the next chapter up, and ****blackmailed me into doing it with the promise of a sequel to An American YYH. Anyway, here's the disclaimer.**

**I own Gyna, her friends and family, and Satoshi. Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi, and Tolea-String-PurpleChoco-Mage owns, um, the eyes that belong to the wolf, who's name I still have not mentioned. (Mucho thanks to you both!) I own nothing that has been licensed. Now enjoy!**

* * *

**Cursed Blessing**

_by hanyou-samurai_

** Chapter 10 **

Gyna needed a shower. Her muscles were stiff, and she was dirty from the roof. Yawning again, she headed to her bathroom. It was already occupied, as Gyna found out as she opened the door, and a huge cloud of perfumed steam billowed out of the bathroom. Gyna coughed and choked, her heightened senses overloaded with the horrible scent of too many hair products.

"What do you want?" Jackie asked irritably, doing her hair in front of the mirror. She was wearing too tight jeans, and a skimpy tank top showing her overweight stomach.

"I need to take a shower." Even just having woken up, and wearing her rumpled clothes from the day before, Gyna was very pretty. Beautiful even, if you went for the dangerous, half-demon types.

"No way. This is my bathroom, so back off, freak." Gyna grew angry. She always had a temper, of course, boiling right beneath the surface, but now all her rage in the past twenty-four hours boiled out of her.

"Your bathroom? This is my house. You demand that I leave?" she hissed. The air lowered a few imperceptible degrees in the overly hot room. Jackie laughed hollowly and slammed the door in her face. Gyna took a step back and glared at the door. In a few moments, you could feel the cold emanating from under the door. Jackie threw open the door, face white with fear.

"What are you doing?" she cried. Gyna flitted past her and closed the door, locking it quickly. The room was cold, and Gyna threw open the window, commanding the perfumed steam out. Soon, the air was icy and clear. Gyna balanced all of Jackie's products and perfumes in her arm, and managed, with great difficulty, to open the door. Jackie was still staring stupidly at the now cold room, her mouth hanging open. Gyna dropped them on her feet.

"Keep your stuff out of my bathroom, or else I will flood your room."

"Flood my room? How could you do that?" Jackie scoffed, after jumping back as the bottles landed on her feet.

Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Do you really wanna know?" The door closed before Jackie could formulate a reply. Inside the bathroom, Gyna inhaled a deep breath of fresh, cool air, and then wrinkled her nose. The faint smell of perfume still lingered. Jackie pounded on the door.

"Let me in!" Gyna turned on her radio to a loud rock station, and turned the volume up. Jackie's protests were drowned out by the soul wrenching lyrics, and the running hot water.

Stepping into the shower, Gyna took her time, leisurely washing her hair until the silver locks shone. Stepping out of the shower, humming along with the song, she wrapped herself in a towel and combed her hair. The steam in the room was comforting now, instead of perfumed and hard to breathe in.

Picking up her clothes, she opened the door and practically danced to her room. Jackie wasn't standing outside of the bathroom any more. It seemed she had given up.

Smiling, Gyna walked into her room and stopped short. Her father was in there, facing away from her. She set her clothes down slowly, and silently began to make her way to her closet, where her mother's katanas rested.

"Gyna." She froze; arm still outstretched to pick up the sword. "There have been demons in this room."

Gyna was shocked. "How do you know?" she asked hoarsely. Samuel whirled, rage twisting his features.

"I can smell them! I can smell their disgusting scent from all the way down the hall! Who are they and what are you doing consorting with them? I already forbade you to even speak of demons!"

Gyna glared at him. "They weren't my choice! They just kind of came! How can you even say any of that? You're a demon yourself! And you married a human who had the powers of a demon! Not only a demon, but a dragon demon! The royalty of the demon world! The most powerful!"

"I know who I married, thank you very much!" He strode forward, hand raised to slap Gyna. A tentacle of water wrapped around his torso, and thrust him back. Gyna glared triumphantly at her father, who was trying to keep his balance.

"My powers have reached their maturity. Notice the all-silver hair? It's because my powers are completely developed. You can't touch me anymore, so don't even try." Samuel glared back at her, then stormed out of her room, slamming it behind him. Even though he was a very powerful demon, he couldn't beat his daughter in a fight. She was too powerful.

Samuel was a water/ice wolf demon. He was a full demon, unlike Gyna, but he was not a dragon demon. He was also full Japanese.

While Gyna's mother, a human named Kiname, had been pregnant with Gyna, she had saved a dragon demon from death. She had been a doctor, and had had the training to save him. In exchange, he had granted Kiname with demonic power. He had made her into a dragon demon. Gyna, who had been in the womb, had retained not only the human part of her mother, but had become part dragon demon as well.

Samuel's powers could not compare to the powers of a dragon demon, even one that wasn't full blooded.

Gyna got dressed, in black jeans, and a black t-shirt that said 'System of a Down' in red writing, in a scrawl that looked like a murderer would write. She sliced her arms to ribbons with her knife. Blood dripped down her hand, but she controlled water to wash it away, washing it out the open window. She rubbed her neck, and sighed.

Putting her school things into her backpack, she slipped on her shoes. Kneeling by her mother's altar, she closed her eyes, and prayed.

_Hey mom, how's it going? I miss you so much. Dad has been a jerk as usual. He tried to hit me again today. I wish you could, like, strike him down with divine power or something. I mean, I know you became an angel after you died, just because you were so wonderful, and such a great person. I just want Dad gone, and I wish he wouldn't hurt me. I guess I could run away, but I feel like I would be betraying your memory by leaving the house that you loved. I still have the same room. I haven't changed anything since you died._ Gyna sighed. _I gotta go now. I love you! Please protect me. Bye._

Gyna stood and headed out of her room. Sitting at the kitchen table, heavy black mascara streaked across her face, was Jackie, and Vivian, who was trying to calm her down. Samuel was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulder tenderly. Gyna felt a pang. She wasn't sure what it was from. Pain, loneliness, or the horrible longing for Samuel to be that tender and gentle with her. The longing was quickly pushed back by the utter hate she felt for the man in front of her. She didn't want him to be nice to her. She wanted a different father who would be nice to her. She wanted Samuel to die a horrible, gruesome death.

"Gyna! What is the meaning of this?" he yelled as soon as she walked in the door. Gyna ignored him and opened the cupboard, grabbing a box of rice crispies. She poured a bowl, and replaced the box, eating a handful of the rice crispies. They were a bit stale, but still edible. She went to the fridge, and pulled out a half gallon of milk. She opened it and sniffed, wrinkling her nose. **That** was definitely spoiled. She dumped it out in the sink.

"Gyna! Why on earth did you do that?" Gyna looked at them now.

"It's my bathroom, she tried to make me get my stuff out of there, there's a perfectly good bathroom downstairs that's actually closer to her room, and I was here first. Or were you referring to the milk? I dumped it out because it was spoiled." She finished with a nod, and went back to the fridge. She sighed. They had no more milk.

"Gyna-"

"We need more milk."

Samuel gaped at her, at a loss for words. Gyna raised an eyebrow, and waited for a few moments, but nobody spoke.

"Well, this has been fun, but I have to brush my teeth and go to school." Heading back up the stairs, she brushed her teeth, grabbed her stuff, and walked out the door. Out of her pocket she pulled a black cell phone. Flipping it open, she dialed a number from memory and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" a tired voice answered the phone, having barely woken up.

"Hey. Can I come over?"

"I'm not dressed."

"Are you ever? Anyway, you know I don't care."

"Yeah, I'm just a regular stripper. You always catch me at inopportune times. But sure. See you soon. Just come on in, the doors unlocked."

"Kay. Bye." Gyna flipped the phone closed with a sigh of relief. Of course he wouldn't turn her away. He was her best friend. There was no way he wouldn't let her come over when she needed it. He knew what her life was like.

In the same neighborhood, Gyna walked into a neat, light blue house, closing and locking the door behind her. He would still be in bed, which was fine with her. She loved his room.

Opening the door, she walked in. He was still in bed, laying under a thick, warm comforter, as she'd known he would be. Gyna sat on the foot of her bed after kicking her shoes off and dropping her backpack.

"Ugh…" he grumbled, repositioning the pillow under his head. Gyna reached over and pulled the blankets off his shoulders. Satoshi raised his tousled head from his pillow and looked at her before flopping down again.

"I said you could come over. That doesn't mean you can get me out of bed." Gyna laughed.

"Then can I talk to you?"

"Go ahead. Just don't ask me to get out of bed."

"Fair enough." Gyna sighed, tracing circles on his black and red bedspread. "They're back." Satoshi sat straight up and looked at her in astonishment.

"No!"

Gyna nodded. "Since yesterday. Now dad's sober and all nice to them, and acting as if I were an unwelcome house guest." Gyna glared at the floor. "Sometimes I think I might prefer him drunk."

Satoshi grabbed her shoulders. "Don't talk like that. You know as well as I that getting beat up everyday is not better than him being sober and them being back." Gyna sighed.

"I know. I'm just… I'm so sick of living there."

"Then _leave_. Come live with me." Gyna shook her head, smiling slightly. She loved Satoshi. He was her best friend, and she had a crush on him.

"I can't. I feel like… I'm betraying my mom's memory." Satoshi sighed, running a hand through his hair and stretched, bare muscles rippling in the dim light. Gyna watched. She definitely had a crush on him. But Haru interested her as well. Gyna's eyes narrowed. _And I don't even want to think about Hiei._ The black haired Japanese boy lay back down on his back, arms behind his head.

"So what's the daughter doing to get to school?" Satoshi asked airily.

"The spoiled little brat gets a ride to school," said Gyna with an eye roll, lying down on the foot of his bed. Satoshi laughed.

"Would you rather she rode the bus?" Gyna was silent for a moment.

"Well… no." Satoshi usually rode the bus as well, but the day before he'd overslept. However, this day, they had an hour before they needed to leave.

"Exactly." Gyna sat up, rolling her eyes again. She crawled over him, ignoring his shouts of protest, and grabbed a small remote on his bedside table. Going back to her spot on his bed, once again ignoring him, she clicked a button. His large, expensive, and very fancy stereo system turned on, playing loud rock music.

"Ooh, you got the new Disturbed CD," Gyna said, delighted. "You gotta burn this for me."

"Okay," Satoshi said drowsily. Clicking a few more buttons, she turned the radio on, and turned the radio station to 104.9, the Monkey. On it was playing the song 'Open Wounds,' by Skillet.

In the dark with the music on

Wishing I was somewhere else

Taking all your anger out on me, somebody help

I would rather rot alone

Than spend a minute with you

I'm gone I'm gone

And you can't stop me from falling apart

'Cause my self-destruction is all your fault

How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?

When all I ever wanted to be was you?

How could you, how could you, how could you love me?

When all you ever gave me were open wounds?

Open wounds

Downstairs the enemy sleeps.

Leaving the TV on

Watching all the dreams we had turn into static

Doesn't matter what I do

Nothing's gonna change

I'm never good enough

And you can't stop me from falling apart

'Cause my self-destruction is all your fault

How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?

When all I ever wanted to be was you?

How could you, how could you, how could you love me?"

When all you ever gave me were open wounds?

Tell me why you broke me down and betrayed my trust in you

I'm not giving up, giving in, when will this war end?  
When will it end?

You can't stop me from falling apart

You can't stop me from falling apart

You can't stop me from falling apart

'Cause my self destruction is all your fault

How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?

When all I ever wanted to be was you?

How could you, how could you, how could you love me?

When all you ever gave me were open wounds?

How could you, how could you

How could you, how could you

All I ever wanted to be was you

All you ever gave me were open wounds

Both Gyna and Satoshi were silent as the last strains of the guitar faded into nothing.

"That's my song," remarked Gyna quietly.

"Except you never wanted to be him." Gyna didn't answer. Satoshi looked at her sharply. "Did you?"

"No… never."

"You did," he said shortly.

"When I was little. When my mom was still alive. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be able to-" Gyna broke off. She had almost revealed that she'd wanted to be able to control her powers as well as he could. She'd almost revealed that she was a demon! She had to be more careful.

"Yes?" Satoshi prodded gently. Gyna hopped off his bed, shaking her head.

"Never mind. Want some breakfast?" Satoshi nodded eagerly. He loved her cooking.

"Okay. Come down whenever you get the motivation."

"Okay." Satoshi watched as she left his room, humming lightly. He liked her as well. He'd had a crush on her since he was ten and had moved into the neighborhood. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. She could never like him back.

He got out of bed, and followed her downstairs. His parents were divorced, and his mom was almost never home. Gyna was already cooking eggs and bacon. He stood right behind her and put his hands around her waist. She turned.

"Satoshi…? What-"

He shook his head and let go. "Never mind." He took a seat at the wooden table. "So, what's for breakfast?" Gyna turned back to the stove slowly. That had been… weird.

"Eggs and bacon. And either pancakes or waffles."

"What kind off eggs?"

"Scrambled."

"I want fried."

"Sucks to be you. I want scrambled."

"Fine. I want pancakes."

"Too bad. I want waffles."

"How come you get everything you want and I don't get anything I want?" he whined, setting the table. Gyna laughed, waffle iron already cooking the first batch.

"Because I'm cooking, and therefore my wants are more important." Satoshi rolled his eyes as she finished breakfast.

They ate quietly, both lost in their own thoughts. Both helped with the dishes, cleaning up quickly.

"Have you showered?" Satoshi asked, stacking their plates in the dishwasher.

Gyna nodded. "Yeah. Why, do I smell?" Satoshi shook his head.

"No. You just have blood on your neck." Gyna's hand flew to her neck and she mentally winced. She had cut this morning. She looked at Satoshi pleadingly.

"Can I…?" Satoshi nodded.

"Of course. You know where everything is. You go first, and I'll finish up here."

Gyna nodded, and started to go, but hesitated before stepping out of the kitchen.

"Are you sure?" Satoshi nodded.

"Yes. I have done dishes before, you know. Just don't take all of the hot water!"

"I won't!" Gyna disappeared back upstairs, and went into his bathroom. Satoshi was a neat freak everywhere but his bedroom and his locker, which he shared with Gyna.

Gyna got into the hot shower and proceeded to scrub every inch of her skin, double-checking to make sure there was no blood left anywhere. On one of the shelves in the shower was Satoshi's stuff. On the other shelf was Gyna's stuff. She bathed there semi-frequently. She also tended to sleep there when life at home got really bad.

Getting out of the shower, she got dressed, quickly running her brush through her hair. She had everything to get ready for the day there as well. Getting dressed, she noticed blood on the neck of her shirt. She was angry. Not just at the now stained shirt, but at herself. How could she have been so stupid?

Opening the door, she stormed into Satoshi's room. He was making his bed. Even though the rest of his room was messy, he always made his bed. Heading straight for his closet, she thrust open the door, and sorted through the shirts hanging there until she found the section of her clothes. She also kept a wide collection of clothes, not only in the closet but also in the dresser that stood at the bottom of his closet. She pulled out a black AC/DC t-shirt, and stripped off the one she was wearing.

"Gyna, do you have no modesty?" Satoshi drawled, trying to sound relaxed and uncaring.

"No, I don't." She pulled on the other shirt, and turned to him. The hemline barely brushed her jeans. She rolled her eyes and pulled off the shirt. This time she put on a long, white see-through t-shirt, and the other shirt on over it. She turned to Satoshi, who was facing away from her, at his computer.

"What do you think?"

"Gorgeous, as usual." He hadn't looked up.

"I'm dressed now, you dolt."

"I know." He looked at her and grinned. "Smokin'." Gyna laughed as he went to the bathroom. She followed him in. He jumped into the shower, and undressed in there, turning the water on and throwing his pajamas out of the shower. They often did this, when it would be easier to talk when they weren't face to face.

"So what's up?" asked Satoshi.

"Toshi…" she had called him by his old nickname as a kid, when she didn't want to call him by his full name.

"Gyna, you can tell me." She sighed. She knew that. As she opened her mouth to speak, he yelped loudly.

"What's your damage?" she asked.

"I just got a huge glob of shampoo in my eyes." Gyna winced. She knew from experience that that hurt. After he had rinsed his eye out, he held his hand out from behind the shower curtain. "Towel." Gyna handed him one of the fluffy white ones. He stuck his head out as well, and wiped his eyes.

"Sorry about that. So, what's going on?" He disappeared behind the shower curtain. Gyna took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Toshi… I cut." There was silence behind the shower curtain.

"How long?" he asked quietly.

"Since my dad started beating me up. So, that's about… four years."

"Where?"

Gyna shook her head. "I can't tell you."

"Why not? You've told me this much. How embarrassing could it be?"

"It's not that. It's just… I have another secret. One I can't tell you."

She heard him sigh. "Alright. But Gyna… why didn't you tell me this before? I could've helped." He was hurt, and she could tell.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She buried her face in her hands, sobbing quietly. The shower turned off, and she handed him a towel behind the shower curtain. He stepped out, trying to tie the towel around his waist.

"Gyna…"

"I'm a demon!" she blurted out, looking at him. He froze, and dropped the towel. She turned around just in time.

Gyna snorted wetly. "Smooth."

"I've got it done." His voice was quiet. She turned, face wet with tears. He was looking at her oddly. He jerked his head. "C'mon." They went to his room. Gyna lay on the bed, and flung an arm over her eyes as he got dressed.

The silence was tangible for a few moments.

"I'm a demon too." Gyna sat bolt upright, looking at him sharply.

"Don't screw with me Satoshi!" she cried. He had been doing up his jeans, bare torso gleaming slightly. He turned to her, abandoning the process.

"You think I'd **lie** about something like that?" he asked, horrified.

"You're just trying to make me feel better!" she cried, kneeling on his bed. "Well, it's not working! So just stop screwing with me!"

"What do I have to do to make you believe me?" he yelled back. Gyna gestured wildly.

"You don't smell like a demon, and I can't even sense your presence, if your are one, which you're not!"

Satoshi glared at her and then closed his eyes. Out of his back unfolded large blue dragon wings, shot through with purple. The colors of a royal dragon.

"Oh… shnikeys…" she breathed, eyes wide.

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**Oh yes, that's right, I'm stopping it there. Review, please. The next chapter's written, I'm just lazy and don't want to put it up. But reviews will motivate me!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, it's been awhile. A couple of people inspired me (thanks to APiratesGuardianAngel and Neko-Koorime) but I came to a conclusion. I shouldn't feel pressured to do anything quickly. It's my life, and if I don't update quickly, it's not that serious a problem. And that makes me calmer. Here's chapter 11.**

* * *

**Cursed Blessing**

by hanyou-samurai

Chapter 11

Gyna gaped wordlessly, staring at his wings. "Do you believe me now?" he asked quietly. Gyna was still shocked, but she had quickly regained the use of her tongue.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" she asked quietly. "When I was going through all those changes, when my hair started to turn silver, why did you never explain any of it to me? I knew what was happening but I was still so scared!"

Satoshi sighed. "The one who gave your mother the power of the dragons… the one she saved…" Gyna leaned forward. "That was my father." Gyna opened her mouth to speak, but Satoshi held up his hand. "Just listen. After that, my father became so infatuated with your mother, it was pathetic. My mother hated yours for it. I'm not sure if your mother died because of mine. It's likely, but improbable. My mother is not a murderer of innocents. My parents divorced." Satoshi smiled grimly.

"Well, in the human world they did. In the Makai, the demon world, it was more ritualistic. Anyway, my mother and I live here now, in the human world. She and my father are still on good terms, surprisingly. They're on even better terms since your… mother died." Satoshi was uncomfortable bringing that fact up. "They won't ever get together again though. They just… drifted apart. Fell out of love."

"At least they're not always screaming at each other. And I know what the Makai is." Satoshi was surprised.

"That's good. My father and my mother decided that it was probably good for me to get a varied education by living among humans. By the time I was ten I had already learned most of the rituals and duties that were expected of me." Satoshi ran a hand through his hair, one of his nervous habits.

"My father… the full dragon demon… he's the king, Gyna. The king of the dragon demons, and through that, the king of everyone else."

"Which would make you-"

"A prince, yes."

Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to bow or something?" Satoshi shook his head. She was taking this better than expected.

"No."

"Are you a full dragon demon?" Satoshi shrugged.

"Sort of. No demon is actually a full demon. We all have at least one drop of human blood. In the very beginning, we were mere animals. Eventually, either through the gods or through demons marrying humans and having children, we gained that tiny bit of human blood. The one that allows us to keep this form, and our own humanity." Satoshi laughed hollowly. "Although many choose to cast it away."

Gyna's eyes were haunted. "And then there are those who keep the form, but strip themselves of the humanity within." He knew she was talking about her father.

"But besides that are you a full demon?" Satoshi nodded.

"The king is always a pureblood."

"Are half bloods accepted? What about mutts like me?"

"They're accepted. Just not if they're the heir. Gyna, you are very unique."

"You're telling me," she muttered bitterly.

"No, stop. Listen to me. Half of your demon blood is dragon, the other is a mixture of wolf, water, and ice, and then you're half human. Rather than a hindrance, all of these powers combine and make something great. You will have a power that is so powerful and unique, you're the only one with it, for at least a millennia. It hasn't awoken yet, but it will."

"Just like he said," she muttered to herself. "That I had a great power that hadn't yet awoken."

"Who said this?" Satoshi asked sharply, blue eyes turning purple momentarily.

"Some demon that's supposed to be protecting me from the Akai Ha, but I hurt him, so now a different ones' protecting me."

"Where are they from?" Satoshi asked, voice quiet and deadly.

"The Reikai." The Reikai. The spirit world.

"Those meddling fools!" Satoshi growled. "You do not need their protection. You have me. No one will dare to mess with me."

"Except for the Crimson Blades."

"We will deal with them when the time comes." Satoshi sat on the end of his bed, and Gyna shrank away involuntarily.

"Are you afraid of me?" he asked gently. Gyna shook her head.

"It's just… a lot to take in right now."

"Yes, I expect it is."

"Did you know I was a demon?" Satoshi was startled for a moment, and then he nodded.

"Yes. I just never thought you'd trust me enough to tell me." Satoshi glanced up at the ceiling, and then back into her eyes. "Gyna… I am so sorry you have to go through all this. Everything." Gyna's breath caught as she smothered a sob. Satoshi slowly opened his arms, undone belt jingling at his waist. Gyna launched herself into them, sobbing uncontrollably.

Satoshi held her, stroking her hair, as she cried. She beat her fist against hic chest, sobbing, "Why? Why!" Satoshi's arms tightened, as he sobbing grew more hysterical. All of the hurt, all of the pain, all of the loneliness. She cried it all out in one horrible torrent.

Hiei glared through the window, bandages ribs aching, at the dragon prince holding Gyna as she poured her heart out in the form of tears. The prince had told her much more than she had been told by the Spirit World. He had given her answers, which were what she craved, what she needed.

The demon prince's eyes slid to the side, to the tree outside his window. The blue orbs flashed purple for a moment before he looked down at Gyna once again. Hiei shivered slightly, holding his aching stomach. The purple had been as fiery as crimson, and much more terrifying than scarlet. No dragon demons were born with purple eyes. No demons at all, in fact, were born with purple eyes. But when full blood dragon demons grew angry, their eyes grew purple. Also if they were using very powerful demon magic.

Satoshi knew he was there. He had known that Hiei had been there the whole time. He knew that Hiei had heard. Which was why he hadn't revealed anything incriminating, anything the Reikai didn't know yet. He had revealed nothing of the complex rituals and traditions that ruled his life. Nothing of the rules that governed him, or of the powers he suspected Gyna had. Nothing that would make the Reikai knowledgeable. He hated them. The meddling fools.

He had been taught to hate them. Wars in the demon world did not need to be controlled by the Reikai! The dragon demons could control the wars if needs be, but the wars almost never needed controlling. If they got out of hand, the dragons would put a stop to it.

Satoshi nearly growled, thinking about it. But that would scare Gyna. So he kept quiet, letting her sob into his bare chest, wings still out.

"Well, I've told you some stuff," he said quietly, once she'd calmed down. She was sitting in his lap, her back to him. He still had his arms around her, and he was stroking her hair. "Anything else?"

"Well, I'm not a full Japanese."

"I kinda guessed that. Are you half-American?" Gyna shook her head.

"No. I'm three-quarters Japanese, since my dad is full Japanese, and a quarter Egyptian."

"Your mom was Egyptian?" he asked suddenly. Gyna nodded.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Satoshi shook his head.

"No. Only… Egyptian demons tend to be more powerful than Japanese ones. Except for the dragon demons. The Japanese dragons were always more numerous and closer to the gods then the Egyptians, so we're more powerful. It's just… you'll probably have to eventually meet with some of the Egyptian dragons as well as the Japanese ones."

"Why will I have to meet with the Japanese dragons?' she asked, voice higher than normal from panic.

"Because," Satoshi soothed, "We can't have one of our own brutally hunted and ruthlessly murdered by the Akai Ha, can we?"

"Well that was comforting," Gyna said dryly. "Why will I have to meet with the Egyptians?"

"Because you're technically a part of their clan as well, and since you know now everything I'm sure they'll want to meet you and try to get you on their side."

"The only side I'm on is my own."

Satoshi smirked. "That's a good choice. But eventually you'll have to choose sides. I suggest you make allies of all, enemies of none, and then wait and see whose ideals you agree with."

"Are the Japanese and Egyptian dragons at war? The way you're talking makes it sound as if they are."

"No… we have gone to wars before, though. Several times throughout the years, in fact. For the past, oh, thousand years or so we have been at peace. But with your powers… you might start a full-blown war."

Gyna sat up straight, out of the comfort of his arms, and stared at him, wide eyes. "A war? Over me?" she asked hoarsely. Satoshi nodded.

"That's how powerful you are." Gyna's brow furrowed, and then she raised her short sleeves over her shoulders. She took of the illusion she had cast on the Japanese and Egyptian script on both arms, and showed Satoshi.

"Do these mean anything?" Satoshi looked at them and nodded slowly.

"Those are birthmarks, right?" Gyna nodded.

"I'm not really into tattoos, and if I did get one, believe me, I would **not** be advertising what type of demonic power I have." Satoshi grinned. "So, why do I have these?"

Satoshi's brow furrowed, as if her were trying to remember something. "I heard… a story one time. It was always passed off by a mere myth, a legend, by everyone, except for a few."

Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Even demons have myths?"

Satoshi nodded. "Ironic, isn't it? I can't remember the story at all. All I can remember are those same tattoos. I don't… I don't think it was a happy story either. To say the least."

Gyna ran a hand through her hair. "Great. More happy news." Satoshi laughed grimly.

"Gyna, I think you should stay here from now on."

"Why?"

"Ignorance may be bliss, but now that you are informed, you are a major contender in this story that is your life."

"I'm only now becoming a major player?" Satoshi shrugged.

"You're only now informed. I don't believe that your life should be in the hands of others. I believe that only you should choose your destiny."

"Am I the only one that can control my destiny?" Satoshi laughed.

"Gods no! Anyone can control your destiny! I believe that you should be able to choose the path you want your destiny to take, and I want to help you control that. But alas, our own destinies are often out of our control."

"Won't your mom mind me staying?" Satoshi laughed, shaking his head.

"She always wanted a daughter. And you're one of us. We can't turn you away. Will your dad mind?"

Gyna laughed humorlessly. "Do you honestly think he'd care?" Satoshi shook his head sadly.

"No. I don't."

"It's a cursed blessing, isn't it?" Gyna asked quietly.

"What is?"

"Being a demon. We have all of these powers, and you have all of this influence, and you're a prince, and I can control **water** for goodness sake! That's the blessing. And yet, we're cursed. We're cursed to terribly long lives, wars in the Makai, and we can never truly fit in with humans. We can never let our guard down around them. We're hunted. And other demons either fear us, look down on us, or want to kill us. Is it really worth it?" Satoshi readjusted his grip around her.

"I don't know. I never thought about it. It was never a blessing or a curse to me. It was just always my **life**, y'know? It was always just the way I am. I never questioned it."

"If you never question anything that's handed to you, you can be coerced into doing all sorts of things. You don't need to think. Do you like living that way?"

Satoshi opened his mouth then closed it, thinking about the question. "It's simpler. But do I like it…? I'm not sure." He rested his head on top of hers. "Because of you, and everything that's happened to you, everything that you are… I'm not sure about anything anymore."

* * *

You know the drill. Review!


	12. Chapter 12

Well, here's chapter 12. I feel like I've really hit my stride with these next few chapters. Oh, so, funny story. I had chapters 12-15 saved on my jumpdrive, and then it broke, and I lost everything on it. But then, I found all the documents from my jumpdrive in my recycling bin! I was so happy! So, I figured to celebrate, I'd post the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Cursed Blessing

by hanyou-samurai

Chapter 12

Satoshi gave Gyna one last squeeze before releasing her. Gyna had explained, much to his fascination, how she hid her scars. Hiei had left in a huff, and Satoshi inwardly smirked. Gyna belonged with one of her own kind, not someone whose powers were so opposed to her own. Gyna wiped her red, swollen eyes before looking at Satoshi.

"So now what?" she asked.

"Now you explain to me what you're doing," a cold, harsh female voice came from Satoshi's door. Both teenagers jumped and looked over their shoulders. In the doorway stood the most beautiful woman Gyna had ever seen.

She had perfect, pale skin, and black hair that shone silver when the light hit it. Her hair fell to her knees in shining locks. She was clothed in designer labels from head to toe. Looking at her eyes Gyna saw with a start that they were a brilliant silver. Satoshi inclined his head respectfully.

"Mother." Gyna looked from one to the other, noting the definite resemblances in the soft, full lips and the delicate, long-fingered hands. She swallowed hard.

"Um…"

"Oh, no, please continue. I was just wondering who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it with my son." This time when the woman spoke, Gyna noticed her words were tinged with an unfamiliar accent. It lilted slightly, and was very pleasant to listen to.

"Mother," Satoshi said harshly. In the Makai, he had more power, both political and demonic. In the human world, he still was a stronger demon, but she had the power of a mother, which, in the Makai, since he was the heir, did not matter very much. The woman glared at him.

"Be **quiet** Satoshi!" Gyna felt power shoot towards them, hitting Satoshi. His mouth snapped shut, and he glared furiously at his mother as a muscle twitched in his jaw.

"Now," the woman said coldly. "Who are you?" Gyna felt magic collect around Satoshi, and the silencing spell on him broke.

"It's **her** mother. **Her**. This is Gyna Shitenshi." The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Her? Why, whatever do you mean, my dear?" she asked in a sickly-sweet voice, feigning ignorance. Satoshi's eyes narrowed.

"You **know** who I mean, mother." The woman regarded Gyna distastefully.

"She doesn't look like much, does she?"

Gyna hopped off of Satoshi's lap and turned, glaring at her best friend's mother. She clenched her fists, claws driving deep into her palms.

"Sorry I'm not up to your standards!" she spat viciously, and mockingly bowed. "Your highness."

The woman rubbed her chin, regarding Gyna thoughtfully. And then she smirked condescendingly.

"Your highness…? How many years… no, millennia has it been since I've been called that?" Satoshi stood angrily, and positioned himself behind Gyna.

"Mother," he said severely. "That's enough!" With his wings out and the almost tangible power in his voice, it was easy to see why he was the heir to the most powerful race of demons ever. His mother bowed her head respectfully.

"As you wish." Satoshi's mother gestured her hand towards his semi-naked state. "Satoshi, when you are dressed, please come to the kitchen. We have things to discuss." She turned on her heel and left. Gyna glowered at the empty doorway before striding forward and slamming the door. She whirled and stared defiantly at Satoshi, daring him to question her. He didn't take the bait. Instead, his brilliant blue eyes were worried.

"Gyna…"

"What?" she asked angrily. "What, are you going to warn me again about pissing her off? Oh, sorry your highness. I forgot the two of you were royal!" Satoshi's eyes narrowed. He had forgotten to factor in not only Gyna's temper, but how scared and confused she still was about everything.

"Yeah, I was gonna warn you against pissing her off, but it seems that you'll be able to do that quite quickly and effectively!" Gyna grit her teeth, but loosened her fists. She had not felt the cuts begin to bleed. As soon as her nails were out of her skin, the wounds healed. Meeting Satoshi's glare with a heated one of her own, she thought of a comeback, and smiled.

"I know. It's one of my talents."

Satoshi grabbed her shoulders hard and shook her, nails biting into her shoulders. He channeled all of his fear into the movements.

"Gyna, this is not a game." He enunciated each word, and for the first time Gyna noticed the same lilting, unfamiliar accent his mother had.

"I know!" She shrugged him off. "I'm not stupid you know."

"Gyna, she can kill you!" Gyna laughed hollowly.

"Lots of people can kill me. Adding one more to the list really isn't going to do anything."

"Except get you killed! Gyna, you're important! You're special!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Big power and all that."

Satoshi shook her again. "Not just that! You're important… to me as well." Gyna blushed bright red.

"We should… go down," she said quietly. Satoshi nodded somberly and released her, throwing on a shirt and doing up his pants.

"Heed my warning Gyna. Please." Gyna looked into his eyes. They were begging her for once in her life, to **listen** to him. She nodded, and the two headed to the kitchen.

Satoshi's mother was sitting ramrod straight at the table, a steaming cup of tea in front of her. She clasped her hands together and stared at Gyna as the girl uncomfortably and clumsily sat as well. Even being in the presence of Satoshi's gorgeous, intimidating mother made her feel inferior, and like every move was the clumsiest she'd ever made. Satoshi sat too, long limbs folding neatly in his seat.

"I am Riikuu Yishimino. And you are?"

"Gyna Shitenshi."

"Ah, the silver death angel." Riikuu smiled mockingly, coldness remaining in her eyes. "The one with the so called awesome powers." Satoshi made a warning sound in the back of his throat. Gyna ignored him, as did his mother, and glared at Riikuu, fists clenched on top of the table.

"Alright, you don't like me. I can accept that and move on. I really despise you too. Now that we've both accepted this, I'm sure we can move this conversation along." Gyna glared coldly into the demon's metallic eyes. "Satoshi just told me everything like, twenty minutes ago. I have no idea if I have this 'amazing' power or not. All I know is that I'm being hunted, and protected by two groups who apparently have a one-sided hate thing going on. I would appreciate it if you would stop mentioning this great power of mine. It's annoying. And if you ever say my name mockingly again, I will rip your tongue out. I like my name, and am proud to be my mother's daughter. And that is something you are going to have to accept. Also, Satoshi invited me to stay here, and I accepted."

Riikuu opened her mouth to retort, but Gyna held up a hand, and she fell silent. "He is of royal blood. You merely married well. I am following his direction and his only. And you are going to have to accept me, so you might as well start now and stop acting as if you have a stick up your butt!" Riikuu's mouth was open in shock and rage. Gyna stood and smiled sweetly.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get to school." Gyna left the kitchen, grabbed her bag in Satoshi's room, and exited the house. Satoshi waved goodbye to his mother and got his bag as well, coming out of the house and running to catch up with Gyna.

"Oh my gosh Gyna."

"She pisses me off. She really pisses me off." Gyna was glaring straight ahead, fists still clenched. Satoshi gently unfurled her fingers. Her nails were covered in blood.

"She makes you angry? Really? I hadn't noticed," he said sarcastically, rubbing a thumb over the oozing crescent moon marks in her palms. They disappeared with a tiny blue spark. Gyna nodded her thanks.

"She just… argh she just pisses me off!"

"She does that to lots of people," Satoshi said dryly as the two continued to walk to school. "I must say though, you handled it well." The day was warm, the half-red leaves on the trees rustling at the light breeze that had sprung up.

"Your sarcasm is noted and not appreciated."

Satoshi ran a hand, frustrated, through his hair. Gyna was angry, and stubborn as a mule. She wouldn't be listening to him anytime soon.

"Hey, look, there's Haru," Gyna said, spotting the Japanese boy down the road. "Haru!" she called, one hand cupped around her mouth, the other waving frantically in the air. Haru grinned, waving back, and walked quickly to meet Gyna.

"Gyna-kun!" he said, smiling. He merely nodded at Satoshi. The demon prince nodded jerkily back, glaring icily at Haru.

"Good morning Haru," said Gyna, trying to ignore the enmity flowing from the two males.

"Why do you call her Gyna-kun?" Satoshi asked coldly. "-kun is for boys' names."

"I know that," said Haru, returning Satoshi's glare with a serene, almost vacant look. "But –san is too formal, and I doubt she'd want to be called –chan."

"Why not just plain Gyna?"

"That's boring." Gyna was finding it nearly impossible to ignore the hate and irritation rolling off the two in waves. Looking between the two, she caught sight of Momiji and Kyo coming down the road, and sighed, relieved. "Finally," she muttered. "Some comic relief." As the other Sohma's approached, the negative waves flowing around disappeared, sucked back inside their owners. Gyna rolled her eyes and shook her head. Men were idiots. Greetings were exchanged, and the five headed off to school.

* * *

Right before lunch, when Gyna had finally woken up (she'd been dead asleep for the past two classes) Hiei sent her a telepathic message. It woke her up, and was waiting in her mind, like an e-mail sitting in her inbox, waiting to be read. Stifling a yawn, Gyna listened to the message.

_Leave your human companions and come to the large tree out back. We need to speak._

Gyna's eyes narrowed. Thought he could order her around, did he? Well, he had only said **human** friends. Looking across the classroom, Gyna found Satoshi in his desk by the window, idly staring at the semi-red leaves. Since it was only the second day of school, fall was coming, and soon the leaves would be red and gold.

_Satoshi!_

Pain so intense she'd never felt anything like it before assaulted her. Every fiber of her being screamed in pain, especially in her head.

_~Get out!~ _A powerful voice screamed at her. It was Satoshi's, but the lilting accent was apparent, as was the power in his voice.

_~You dare to trespass in my mind? Get out, and if you ever return here, I shall destroy you sanity!~_

The pain intensified, and Gyna let out a small gasp of pain. Satoshi's head whipped around, whereas before he'd shown no sign of the silent conversation going on.

_~Gyna?~_ The pain disappeared, leaving Gyna shaking and exhausted.

_No, it's your conscience._

_~I'm so sorry! Are you alright?~_

_Yeah, I'm fine. I'm okay._

_~I'm sorry…~_

_It's fine!_

_~So what's up?~_

_Hiei-_

_~Who?~_

_He's the guy from the Reikai._

_~Those meddling-~_

_I know, I know, those meddling fools. Let's not start on another rant now._

_~Fine.~ _Satoshi's voice sounded like he was pouting. Gyna's mouth twitched as she hid a grin. _~Go on.~_

_Okay. Hiei sent me a message, and he told me to leave my human companions at lunch and go talk to him at the big tree out back. Wanna come?_

_~With pleasure.~_ Gyna glanced at him, and he smirked cruelly, pointed canines glinting in the bright, clear autumn sunlight.

Gyna snorted while Satoshi laughed, and then Gyna glanced at the teacher. She had stopped talking and was glaring at the two.

"What is so funny Gyna? What about you, Satoshi?" The two demons exchanged glances. Satoshi gave a tiny jerk of his head, eyes telling her to make some excuse. Gyna rolled her eyes at him.

_You wish._

_~What! But, Gyna-~_

_No way._

_~Fine!~_

_Good. Now that we've settled this, hurry up. The teacher's getting impatient._

"Well?" asked the teacher rudely.

"Well, you see, I was looking at the leaves, and was totally out of it, and Gyna looked at me and snorted because I looked funny, and since I recognized her voice I looked over, realized what she was laughing at, so I laughed as well." Satoshi finished his run-on sentence with a brilliant smile. Gyna suppressed a grin as she felt subtle magic leave Satoshi. He was persuading the teacher. The teacher's eyes were suddenly glazed and out of focus.

"Ah, um, well, okay. Just try… to pay attention," she muttered distractedly, and went back to her lecture. Satoshi flashed Gyna triumphant grin before turning to look out the window once again.

_~So are we going out there as soon as lunch starts?~_

_Well I kinda wanted to eat, but we can go out immediately._

_~No, let's eat first. The spirit world dog can wait.~_

_He's not a dog, he's a fire demon pyro._

_~Pyro is too cool a word for someone from the Reikai.~_

_I called him that, and he didn't even know what it was._

_~The freak.~_

_Be nice. He's not that bad._

_~Really.~_

_Really._

_~Didn't you break his ribs?~_

_… Shut up. Wait, how do you know about that?_

_~When I was telling you everything he was outside on a tree. I saw him holding his stomach, and inferred from there. It was you who broke them, wasn't it?~_

_… Shut up!_ Gyna broke the connection, angry. He had been making fun of her! Playing with the pad of sticky notes on her desk, she got an idea. A smile slowly spread on her face.

Satoshi clenched his teeth. He had been hit with forty-seven sticky notes in the past ten minutes. After the first five, he had stopped looking around for the culprit. His first thought had been Gyna, but she was staring resolutely ahead, ignoring him. And she didn't have any sticky notes on her desk

After the fifty-third made contact wit his head and bounced down onto his desk, a little harmless ball of paper, Satoshi had had enough

Satoshi stood, and the teacher, no longer confused, broke off.

"Whichever idiot keeps throwing sticky notes at me, stop it!" The teacher nodded as Satoshi slowly sat down.

"He's right. Knock it off. No throwing things." Looking back out the window, Satoshi flinched as another sticky note hit his head. Only one person would dare defy an angry Satoshi.

_~Gyna!~_

_Toshi-chan?_ Satoshi sighed.

_~I can't argue with that.~_

_I know. It's my new weapon against you. But if you really want me to, I'll stop._

~_Please do. It's like there was an invasion by sticky note aliens from the planet of sticky-note-ania.~_

_… Wow… that was so lame. But I'll stop._

After that class, the teacher called for Gyna and Satoshi to stay behind.

"Lunch detention."

"What!" Gyna was highly offended.

"Why?" asked Satoshi, keeping his temper in check much better than Gyna, as usual. But cold fury boiled just under his skin. He wanted to talk to the fool from the Reikai.

"Gyna, you were throwing things, Satoshi you interrupted me." The teacher waved them away, and the two stalked out to go get lunch.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Kyo, coming up to the angry demons.

"Lunch detention," the two grumbled at the same time. Kyo snorted.

"Smooth. See you later then."

"Bye."

After Kyo had walked off, the two exchanged glances.

"Well, this sucks," said Gyna.

"Gyna, we're screwed. We need to talk to him, and an invitation in peace is unheard of. Can't you, I don't know, make copies of us?"

"Satoshi, do you have any idea how hard that would be?"

"Yes. I'll help." Gyna sighed.

"Fine. So just make the water bend the light so that it looks like we're there?" Satoshi nodded, and placed his hand on her shoulder as they closed their eyes. Gyna felt his magic flow into her.

Sweat broke out on her face. His magic was so powerful and unfamiliar …yet familiar at the same time. When she opened her eyes, a doppelganger of each of them was walking into the classroom. Gyna sagged against Satoshi, breathing heavily. She'd never done such complex magic before.

"Ready?" he asked quietly. Gyna nodded and stood straight.

"Yeah."

* * *

You know the drill. Review! The next chapter's my favorite one. It'll be good, I promise. And it's written, so I just need to edit a little bit more, and then it will be up! So, be excited! Have a good night everyone! And don't forget to review!


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, it's been awhile. First off, this is my favorite chapter. I had a really good time writing it. It has everything: swords, a battle, blood, and a sandwich!

Secondly, I do not own Skye or Sumiko Takashi. Skye belongs to String-Lost and found (with a great many thanks) and Sumiko Takashi belongs to Neko-Koorime (also with great many things).

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Gyna, Satoshi, and the girl with no name. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.

* * *

Cursed Blessing

Chapter 13

She approached the tree alone. After extensive discussion, Gyna and Satoshi had finally agreed that this was the best course of action. Satoshi, didn't like it, but Gyna's logic was irrefutable. ("He asked for me, moron, and might be scared off if he sees me with you.") She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The hill was a lot steeper than she remembered.

"Oy, Hiei!"

"I told you to come alone," he hissed, katana blade ice cold against her neck. She hadn't sensed him at all until the katana was against her neck. She ground her teeth at his too-warm body heat. She knew her body, naturally colder than other demons who could not use ice, felt the heat much more thoroughly. And she didn't like it. It contradicted her body's natural rhythm.

"Oh, you sensed him already? Sad day." Her voice was nonchalant, and she sounded totally uninterested, yet she was extremely careful to not move. It didn't seem like the right now to slice her throat on a sword. _Maybe next week,_ she thought with disgusting cheeriness.

"Let her go." Satoshi's voice was as cold as the blade of his sword, pressed against Hiei's neck. Gyna's eyes widened as she saw Satoshi's sword. Her first thought, naturally, was where he'd been hiding that sword, especially since she'd watched him get dressed. It was a European style sword, perfectly balanced. Then Gyna noticed the blue sparks playing across its surface. Her lips curled into a smile. He'd made a sword entirely out of demon magic.

"Nice sword Satoshi," she commented appreciatively. He glanced at her momentarily. Hiei smirked, and was gone. When Gyna's slower eyes caught him again, he was standing in front of them, sword raised, on the balls of his feet, ready to attack at the slightest notice. Satoshi stepped protectively in front of Gyna. She rolled her eyes, rubbing her throat, and shouldered her way past Satoshi.

"I told you to leave your human companions." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Your low opinion of humans made you make that grammatical error. One that I took advantage of. Ha ha. You said 'human' companions. Satoshi's not human. He's a demon." Hiei didn't even spare Satoshi a glance.

"I need to talk to you alone."

"What would a Reikai **dog** want with her?" Satoshi growled. Hiei barely spared a glance at Satoshi, then he looked again. His face was expressionless as he bowed low to Satoshi. Both teenagers were taken aback.

"I would much rather be working for you, your highness." Satoshi gaped while Gyna tried to laugh silently, hand clapped over her mouth, shoulder's shaking.

"Oh, um well, hmm." Gyna couldn't resist now. She burst out laughing, but tried to control herself as Satoshi turned a withering glare onto her.

"Sorry," she said, managing to stop her laughs but still grinning. "Well, I want to go eat lunch now. Can I go, or do you need me to help you get your foot out of your mouth?" she asked, grin widening even more. A red blush stained Satoshi's cheeks, and he waved a hand at her.

"Go." She gave a two-fingered salute and walked down the hill. By the time Satoshi had turned, Hiei was already gone. The demon prince followed Hiei to the same clearing that Hiei had taken Gyna to train. As their swords clanged together and they moved faster than the human eye could follow, Satoshi spoke.

"What do you want with her?" He didn't need to tell Hiei whom he was talking about.

"I've been assigned to protect her."

"In what world," Satoshi snarled, trying to use his superior height and weight to force Hiei to the ground, "Would she need the protection of one such as you?"

"A demon?" Hiei asked with grim amusement. His sword sliced across Satoshi's collarbone, but he ignored the blood that soaked his shirt.

"A **dog** from the spirit world," he hissed, barely scratching Hiei's arm as the fire demon stepped back and out of range.

"In what world would a demon work for those idiots?"

Satoshi growled. "Apparently this one." Hiei's jaw clenched, and he tackled Satoshi, knocking him to the ground. Lying on top of him, Hiei slamming his blade into the hard ground, scant inches from Satoshi's head.

"I work for them to keep my own freedom, and not be bound," he hissed. And then he smirked, staring down at Satoshi, who was panting heavily. "You wouldn't know what that's like, would you? Freedom? After all, you are so bound by rules, and laws, and magic that you can't even **breathe** without your family knowing." Satoshi growled, and, with massive effort and quite a bit of magic, threw Hiei off him and jumped to his feet.

"Where's Satoshi?" Momiji asked as Gyna sat down by him, eating a sandwich. She shrugged.

"He's in an epic death match." Momiji laughed.

"No, really what's he doing?" Gyna grinned.

"I told you!" Momiji sighed dramatically and went back to his lunch, sensing he wouldn't get what he thought to be an honest answer out of her. Gyna took a huge bite of her sandwich, choking intentionally to hide the concentration on her face as she invaded Satoshi's mind again.

~Get out!~ She winced as she cleared her throat absentmindedly. Before he'd thrown her out, she had seen what he was seeing. Which was Hiei, pressed against a tree with Satoshi's hand around his throat, sword inches from his eye.

"Are you okay?" asked Momiji. Gyna began to nod, then thought better of it. She shook her head, putting a hand to it.

"I have a headache. I think I'll go to the nurse." He nodded, looking worried as Gyna got up from the table, grabbed her sandwich, and headed out of the lunchroom. Trying to walk slowly as if in pain was difficult when nervous energy was running through her skin like electricity, but she tried her best. This ended up messing with her balance, and making her stumble every few feet. _Hopefully I'll be convincing,_ she thought, trying to not think of how stupid she looked.

As soon as the doors had swung shut behind her, she broke into a sprint, which felt much better than her sickly stagger. She headed for the nearest exit, and mentally groaned to find the yard outside it filled with people. Ignoring jeers and shouts aimed towards her, she ran around the side of the building. As soon as she was out of sight, she released her wings and sighed as she heard her shirt rip. There went another one.

"Hey, I think she went over here!" Gyna's breath caught as two males of the group that had been standing around the entrance came stumbling around the corner, laughing. They stopped short and one actually fell down as they saw her. She sighed. Well, she was already this far. She let her ears and tail out as well, then looked at them, grinning and showing her very sharp canines.

"Yes?"

"Oh sh-" She took of before she could hear one of them finish swearing. The only good thing about this encounter was that they were so stoned, no one would probably believe them. Or so she hoped.

"Well this sucks," she muttered, putting her tail and ears back in, heading towards the clearing Hiei had attempted to train her in. She could feel them.

"Would killing you incite war?" Satoshi hissed.

"Maybe," he hissed back. "Ask her, she would probably know." Satoshi's head whipped around, still keeping a firm grip on Hiei, who he had slammed against a big tree. Gyna was panting, wingless, pushing through the bushes and leaves until she entered the clearing. Sticks and leaves stuck out of her hair, and her clothes were ripped and dirty. Satoshi raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to you?"

"I may have miscalculated the distance to the clearing from where I was in the air. It ruined my cool entrance." Out of her pocket, she pulled a ziploc bag, and took her sandwich out. Beginning to eat, she gestured at Satoshi. "Continue on with what you were doing, but no killing."

"And who are you," he asked, voice shaking. "To tell me what to do?" Her eyes narrowed.

"You're acting strange Satoshi." She shrugged. "But that's okay. I'm Gyna. Hi, it's nice to meet you. And I'm informing you that if you kill him, you're going to have to be with me every second of every day until we get the Crimson Blades off my back." Satoshi shrugged nonchalantly, clearly not worried about that, and Gyna blushed. "Oh… okay." They all heard rustling in the bushes at exactly the same moment. Gyna turned. "What-"

"Gyna!" Satoshi shouted as a little dart flew into her stomach.

"What the heck-" She fell to the ground. Satoshi and Hiei looked into the bushes just in time to see different colored eyes- one blue, the other yellow- flash and a large white wolf streak off into the forest. Satoshi leaped for it, but Hiei grabbed him by the arm and threw him back.

"You're going to hunt him down and leave her to die?" he asked, nails digging into his palms. Satoshi grit his teeth but dropped to his knees by Gyna.

"It hurts," she gasped as he pulled the dart out.

"I know. I know."

"Satoshi!" she screamed, back arching as blood flowed out of her eyes, nose, and mouth. Blood vessels burst in her wrists, and she began to die. Hiei was on his knees by Gyna, ripping his own shirt into pieces, and wrapping the cloths tightly around her wrists, trying to stop the blood flow.

"You!" Satoshi shouted above Gyna's screams of agony. "Fix this! I know you can!"

"I can't!" Hiei cried, cool breaking. He pulled out his communicator, opened it, and turned it around, showing Gyna. "Kurama, you have to have an antidote."

"I'll be right there." With that, the fox hung up. Gyna let out another inhuman shriek as an artery in her leg burst, showering them and the clearing with blood. Gyna's body was replacing blood quickly, and trying to heal itself, but the poison wouldn't let her live. The Akai Ha couldn't just have stabbed her. They had to have a poison that caused the most painful, gruesome of deaths.

"Why are you helping?" Satoshi asked as Hiei tied another piece of his shirt around her leg tightly, pressing on it.

"If she dies I'm sent back to prison forever," he said. "Keeping her alive is my last chance to be free of prison and the Reikai." Satoshi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Kurama came out of the bushes, running to them from across the clearing. He skidded to a halt, falling to his knees as the other artery in her leg burst, and one in her arm. All three men cringed as she let out another piercing scream. None of them would ever forget this day, or the sight in front of them.

Kurama drew a bottle out of his pocket. It was half filled with a golden liquid that moved slowly, like molasses, and shone like pure gold. He uncorked it, and held it over Gyna's stomach where the small hole from the dart had blackened, and was sizzling as the flesh around it died.

"Hold her down!" he commanded. Satoshi grabbed her arms, Hiei, her legs. Kurama tilted the bottle: the liquid was as slow as molasses as well.

"Come on Kurama," Hiei growled, almost losing grip as Gyna screamed and writhed as the artery in her other arm burst.

"It won't go any faster," Kurama said quietly, sweat on his face as he watched the liquid slowly flow towards the opening. Finally, a single drop fell from the bottle, landing dead center into the hole.

Everything seemed to freeze for several long moments. And then Gyna let out the worst scream any of them had ever heard. It was a sound of complete and absolute agony. Her back arched so violently that they heard several loud snaps. Her spine had broken.

-------

Gyna waited and waited. She couldn't stop the screams from escaping her lips. It didn't matter. Screaming made no difference anyway. But it let them know she was alive. When she stopped screaming was when they should be worried. Because that was when she would be dead. Blood spewed from her mouth in a crimson torrent. This pain had to stop sometime. It had to stop sometime. She opened her eyes, but she could see nothing. Blood vessels in her eyes had burst, blinding her with blood. Her hands scrabbled at something in her stomach, fingernails gouging long, bleeding cuts. There was something inside her!

Dimly, she heard Satoshi shout her name: they had released her. She crawled towards the muffled noise- vessels had burst in her ears as well, deafening her with blood- and she grabbed his ankle. Grabbing the knife she knew was there, she brought it to her throat. Anything to stop the pain, but someone grabbed the knife. Her hands clutched at her stomach again. She could feel it inside of her. She cried in agony as someone cut open her stomach, and reached in, closing his fist.

-------

Satoshi whirled on Kurama after Hiei had confiscated the knife.

"This was supposed to help!" Satoshi shouted. Hiei was looking intently at Gyna. She was clawing at her stomach. Hiei glanced at the knife in his hand as Satoshi and Kurama shouted at each other. He knelt by her, moved her hands out of the way, and raised the knife in the air. It was as if everything was in slow motion.

Turning, Satoshi let out a shout as he saw what Hiei was about to do. Kurama held him back as he tried to reach Hiei and rip him limb from limb. Kurama didn't know what Hiei was going to do. Whether he knew why Gyna was still dying, even after the antidote, or whether or not it was a mercy killing, Kurama knew that what Hiei was doing was the right thing to do.

Then time sped up to almost ridiculously fast proportions. Time was not behaving normally. It was twisted. Hiei brought the knife down, and sliced Gyna's stomach open. She screamed again, but he thrust his hand inside her and felt around. She screamed, clawing at his arm but he kept grimly kept his hand inside, searching for what he knew had to be there. And then he found it. And he closed his fist. Gyna's body convulsed again as he drew his hand out. With the other, he grabbed the discarded bottle of antidote off the ground, and upended the entire bottle.

"She'll be poisoned with too much!" Kurama cried, still holding Satoshi back.

"She's already poisoned." Hiei held the bottle over her as three agonizingly slow drops fell into the wound. And then her body stopped convulsing. She lay, gasping on the ground, all traces of poison removed from her body before she lost consciousness. Kurama released Satoshi. The prince sprinted forward, and hit Hiei, ignoring the crunching sound as his knuckle broke. Satoshi shoved him out of the way, and began running his hands over wherever the poison had affected her. Blue magic ran out of his hands like water, healing her.

"What was that?" he asked quietly, and ridiculously calmly. Hiei opened his bloody hand. In the center of his palm was a little red ball.

"It was giving her regular doses of poison."

"You could have killed her." Satoshi gently turned her over and straightened her spine, healing it.

"So could you, through inaction."

"Your highness, Hiei saved her life," Kurama put in, taking his bottle and corking it once again.

"He should have noticed the assassin," Satoshi growled, grabbing Gyna and putting her over his shoulder. He let his sword disappear into blue magic that flowed back into his hands. Hiei was furious, and working hard to not show it.

"You could have as well." Satoshi glanced at him.

"But you're her guardian, aren't you?" With that, walking slowly so he wouldn't jar her, he set off towards his house.

* * *

"Report." The man stepped into the circle of dim light. Around him, and ten feet above the sunken circle where he was standing were five stone chairs. Only three were filled, each person heavily cloaked, the two to his left, the one on the right, closest to the center chair. The center was never filled. No one knew who the leader was. They ruled from the shadows, giving orders. Sometimes it was one of the leaders, those who sat in the chairs. Other times it was one of the assassins.

"Dead."

"Wrong."

"What?" The man was in shock. The person on the right stood.

"Her protector is friend's with a plant master."

"No one could have known that poison."

"Yoko Kurama could have!" The man threw his goblet of wine at the man. It hit him in the face, splashing him with wine, and he bared his teeth, but he didn't move.

"That was not Yoko Kurama. Yoko Kurama had silver hair, and fox ears and a tail. That man had red hair. No signs that he was a demon. And Yoko Kurama is dead!"

"Apparently not!" the cloaked figure hissed. He took a deep breath, calming down. "Why did you stay to watch? If you were confident in your abilities, which you should be by know, considering the amount of kills you have, you would have been able to just leave." His lips, the only part you could see of his face, curled into a smile. "Ah. I see. Do you like to hear them scream? Is that what you are in to? You sick, twisted pervert." The man's lip curled over his teeth.

"Bite your tongue!"

"You may not speak to me that way, Skye!"

"I will speak to you any way I wish when you accuse me of liking to hear them scream!"

"Don't be ashamed. It wouldn't be unusual. Many of your brethren like to. Just ask Cole. The ones who scream are his favorite." Skye felt a shiver run up his spine. Cole was one of the men who truly deserved to die. He didn't just kill his victims. He played with them, tortured them, just to hear them scream. The man sighed, returning to his seat. "Oh Skye, what are we to do with you? This was to be your last assignment before we released you, and you got what you wanted. But you failed. Apparently you can't just kill her the usual way, from a distance, because of her annoying protector." Skye wasn't about to tell him there had been two men in the clearing. "You will have to get close to her. Go to her school, become her friend. Catch her alone- truly alone, not with her protector close by- and then kill her." Skye nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Good boy. Send Cole in." Skye nodded and bowed before leaving the medieval room. Out in the bright, fluorescent lit, modern white hallway, Cole was sitting in a chair, eyes closed, headphones in his ears. Skye knew he shouldn't ask, but he had to.

"What are you listening to?" Cole opened his eyes and smiled a smile that made Skye feel dirty just being around him. He took a headphone out of his ear, and turned the volume up. It was a girl screaming.

"No, please, no, I never did anything! Please no!" Her no had ended in a blood-curdling scream. Skye felt his stomach recoil.

"You're sick." Cole grinned, stretching, and sticking his headphones and ipod in his pocket.

"Yeah, but so are you."

"What are you talking about?" he asked as Cole walked past him into the room.

"You liked to hear that girl scream," he said, grinning.

"I did not-" Skye protested, but Cole cut him off.

"Then why did you stick around? Just think about it." He laughed merrily as he walked into the room. Skye sunk into the chair, dropping his head into his hands. He didn't like hearing them scream. He wasn't going to be able to sleep well for a long time after he'd seen and heard what he'd done to that girl. He'd stayed so that he could be sure that she would die. She was his last hit, and he had to have her die. That was the only way he could get everything back. Skye twined his fingers behind his neck, closing his eyes. She had been so beautiful… and then she had been stained in blood.

His eyes flew open, but he could still see her. The image was burned into his eyes, and he could always see it, whether his eyes were open or closed. He had to leave before she was dead because he couldn't take it. He was a horrible person. But it had to be done, for his sake and for the sake of everything he held dear.

Her hair had looked beautiful, stained with blood. He sat up quickly and slammed his head into the wall. Maybe he was sick. Maybe he was twisted. Maybe-

"It's just because you notice colors. You're not twisted, don't worry. I think her hair is pretty too. The blood brings out brighter silver highlights. She should have red silk sheets. Or red earrings. Or fight demons a lot, and get bloodstained. I bet she'd look great like that." His eyes snapped open and he stared at the small girl standing in front of him.

She was small and petite, almost childlike, with blonde hair back in a ponytail and red eyes. She was wearing a red Chinese dress with small white flowers all over it. She was one the best assassins the Akai Ha had. And a mind reader. Many had learned to guard their minds. Skye was usually pretty good at it, unless he was upset, and was having strong thoughts.

"Am I sick and twisted?"

"No, I don't think so. I told you, it's just because you're good with colors. You've managed to keep your mind on what's important to you even after all these years, and after all your kills. Not many do that. You don't enjoy the screams or the horror you cause." She smiled, a smile that on anyone else would have been seen as cute and endearing. On her, it made Skye's insides freeze and made him feel like groveling at her feet.

"Do you like the screams?" She thought for a moment.

"Depends on how cute they are." She let out a tinkling laugh. Skye didn't join in. He wondered how many people dreamed of that laugh and woke in a cold sweat. He wondered how many people had heard that laugh in the last moments of their lives. Cole slammed the door, walking out, obviously angry. He didn't spare a glance at either of them.

"Hi Cole," the girl said. He ignored her, striding down the hall and disappearing around a corner. "Rude." Turned back to Skye, she gave a little wave, smiling again.

"See you later Skye."

"Wait!" he called just as she was about to enter the room. "Honestly. Do you like the screams?" She actually gave it some thought this time. And then she smiled, little fangs clearly showing against her pale skin.

"Sometimes Skye. Sometimes."

"Wait!" he cried again, standing quickly. "When do you enjoy them and when don't you?" She looked at him calmly.

"I can't answer that Skye. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It depends on the person." Opening the door, she gave him one last look. "One day, you might enjoy them as well." She looked him up and down. As his quota of kills had grown closer, he'd begun to lose weight. He was very thin, cheeks hollow, eyes haunted. "But I doubt it. You're very pure Skye. Keep it that way. Only those who are tainted like me ever enjoy the screams or the bloodshed." About to enter, she looked back one last time. "I don't enjoy killing innocents. I really only enjoy the screams when I'm killing monsters like Cole."

"There are others like Cole out there?" he asked, horrified. She nodded sadly.

"That's why we stay in business. Oh, granted, they hide it better. Cole's very blunt. But Skye, remember this:" She turned away and began to enter the room. "There are monsters everywhere. Some just look more human than others." Just before the door swung closed, Skye spoke.

"Thank you."

The girl wore a little smile as she walked into the room to be evaluated.

* * *

"Pencils, paper, water bottle, snacks, notebooks, pens," Sumiko Takashi muttered to herself, packing her backpack. She sneezed, still getting over the cold that had kept her bedridden for a day and a half.

"Hey Miko." She turned, a smile on her face, and froze. Kurama was walking tiredly into her room, covered in blood.

"Kurama!" she gasped. "What happened?"

"Gyna Shitenshi was almost assassinated by the Akai Ha."

"What did they do?" Miko asked, sitting Kurama down and beginning to clean up the blood.

"They used a rare poison. Yoko said that he'd seen it once, in Egypt, a long time ago." Kurama chuckled, the laugh humorless and dark. "I never knew he had been to Egypt."

"Is she okay?" asked Miko worriedly.

Kurama nodded. "She should be. His highness healed her and then took her to his home."

"Who?"

"Prince Satoshi."

"He's in the human world?" Miko exclaimed. "I mean, he hasn't been seen for a couple of years, but I figured he was just holed up in his castle, or in intense training or something. I never would have thought that he was in the human world." Miko sighed. "Even with the three rulers, the royal dragon family is needed. And their crown prince in the human world? It's a huge risk."

"Or is it the safest thing for him? He has magic, as does his caretaker, I'm certain. In the Makai, there was always the risk of being attacked. But here, no one knows him for what he is. And no one even knows he's here. Many think, like you, that he's just in the castle back in the Makai." Miko nodded, still sponging blood off his face. "So what were you doing before I came in?" he asked, looking at her half-packed backpack.

"Packing for school."

"Are you excited? First day and everything." Miko groaned.

"It's just like when I was a kid. Worrying about who I would make friends with, where I would sit lunch, what I would wear."

"Just wear that." He gestured at her clothes. She was wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"My pajamas?"

Kurama shrugged. "Why not? You don't have to wear a uniform, so why don't you wear what you're wearing." He took the cloth from her and finished wiping the blood off his face. "What if all those handsome high school boys steal you away?" Miko laughed.

"You could come too, you know." Kurama smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

"No chance. I've been through my high school experience."

"No you haven't!" she cried accusingly. "You're only halfway through it." Kurama shrugged.

"Yes, but it hasn't exactly been the greatest of years, has it? Almost killing myself to save my mother, discovering Yoko- which was an adventure all in its own-, entering and winning the dark tournament and… I think that's it."

"Not true! You met me!" Kurama grinned.

"Alright, that was great, I have to admit." Miko laughed. Kurama stood up. "So, get a goodnights sleep. You have to be up early in the morning for school!" Miko made a face and groaned.

"Alright. Get out of here." Kurama smiled and left. "Wait, Kurama." He turned. She looked guilty. "Was she… was it bad?" Kurama didn't have to be told that it was Gyna she was talking about. And he knew how guilty she felt for not being there to protect Gyna.

Kurama looked down at his blood stained clothes. When he met Miko's eyes again, his were haunted.

"I will never forget it."

* * *

So, there's chapter 13. I hope you enjoyed it! Review, please!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14! Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Usual disclaimer applies. Read previous chapters for who owns who. As usual, I own nothing but Gyna, Satoshi, and Riikuu.

* * *

**Cursed Blessing**

Chapter 14

Satoshi walked slowly up to his house. Gyna was still unconscious on his back. He had healed her, but her blood still remained, and had completely soaked the back of his shirt. His mother came out of the house as he walked up the stairs.

"Satoshi, what happened?" she asked, completely taken aback at the sight before her.

"The Akai Ha tried to poison her," he said tiredly, coming to a stop. He was exhausted and his whole body ached. Even his bones ached.

"What poison did they use?" she asked, walking forward to examine the unconscious Gyna.

Satoshi shrugged. "I don't know. There was a dart into her stomach, and then she collapsed and her blood vessels began to burst, and there was a ball and-" Satoshi broke up with a shudder. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it."

"Caressing Child's Breath," she breathed, picking Gyna's arm up to examine her wrist. No scar remained where Satoshi had healed her.

"That's what the poison is called?"

"The poison is from a plant called The Child. Child's Breath is the poison. When they attack like that, with that poison and the dart and the ball, it's called Caressing Child's Breath. Assassins have a disturbing gift of irony." She looked up at her son. "Where did you get extract of Bleeding Ichor?" He raised an eyebrow, looking confused. "The antidote? Ichor is the blood of the Greek gods. But… Bleeding Ichor is one of the rarest, most hidden plants. Where did you even **find** one, let alone know the process to extract the antidote?" Satoshi shrugged.

"I don't know. The dog assigned to protect her from the Reikai called a man with red hair, called… Kurama. He brought it."

"Kurama? As in, _Yoko_ Kurama?" Satoshi shook his head.

"That's what I thought as well, but didn't Yoko Kurama have silver hair? And this man had no ears or tail." Several women passed by on the street. They stopped, staring at the blood covered Gyna.

"We should get inside. People are starting to congregate."

"Yes, of course." Riikuu ushered Satoshi inside. "Take her up to the bathroom." Satoshi obeyed.

"Should I put her in the tub?" he asked. His mother nodded.

"I'll wash her off, then we can put her in the guest room." Riikuu rolled up her sleeves.

"You're letting her stay here?"

"Well we can't exactly send her home, can we?" She pointed to the doorway. "Out."

"You'll get your clothes dirty." She glared at him and took off her designer jacket. Underneath was a designer silk shirt. Satoshi raised an eyebrow and she pointed to the doorway again.

"Out."

Half an hour later, Riikuu called Satoshi back in to carry a clean Gyna to the guestroom. She was newly clothed in some of Riikuu's clothes. Riikuu tucked her into the bed, Satoshi watching curiously.

"I thought you didn't like her." Riikuu smoothed the bedcovers.

"My feelings are none of your business." Satoshi grinned. "Good job on the healing by the way. No markings or scars left." Satoshi sat down on the bed and stroked Gyna's silver hair away from her face. Riikuu watched him, and then quietly left the room.

Gyna woke with a scream, back arching. She could feel the crippling pain again… the pain!

It disappeared as soon as it had come. Gyna looked around the unfamiliar room. It was decorated in a Victorian style, with heavy red velvet curtains.

"It's alright. You're in our guestroom." Gyna looked over. Riikuu was sitting in a chair by the bed. Gyna sat up slowly, moving carefully to avoid having the pain come back. She was stiff, but by the time she was fully erect there was still no pain.

"Sorry for the trouble."

"I'm afraid I must apologize for my behavior this morning. I was… angry. I had just finished speaking to my ex-husband, and, well… it did not go well."

"Satoshi's father?" Riikuu nodded.

"Yes."

"Alright. Fine. I'm sorry too." She ran her hand through her hair. "How did I get here?"

"Satoshi carried you."

"Did he fix me too?" Riikuu nodded. Gyna ran a shaking hand through hair. And then she burst into tears. Sobbing, she bowed her head, hands covering her face. She froze as she felt Riikuu's warm arms wrap around her.

"I was poisoned the same way when I was younger."

"Do the nightmares ever go away?" Gyna asked, leaning into Riikuu. She felt the older woman shrug.

"Not completely. Even now sometimes I dream about it."

"I just… dreamed about the pain. It's like it's happening all over again!" Riikuu held her more tightly as she began to sob again. When she had calmed down, she wiped her eyes. "How long have I been out? Where's Satoshi?"

"You've been unconscious for a day and a half. I made Satoshi go to bed a couple of hours ago. He was watching over you the entire time." Gyna blushed, and looked down at herself.

"Whose clothes am I wearing?"

"Mine."

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"It's alright." The two sat in silence for several moments. "I… would like to invite you to stay here." Gyna twisted around, breaking Riikuu's hold on her shoulders.

"Are you serious?"

"Quite."

"Satoshi… Satoshi said that you always wanted a daughter." Riikuu flinched.

"When Satoshi was five, I got pregnant again. Those loyal to Satoshi were afraid that if I were to have another son, he would eventually challenge Satoshi for the throne. In retrospect, a daughter might have done that as well, but it's much more likely with a son. So, those loyal to him hired an assassin. One of the Akai Ha. That was when they used Caressing Child's Breath, the attack used on you. I… almost died. Satoshi's father saved me. His father had been killed by that attack, and he had taken to carrying the antidote around with him. My life was saved but… my child had died." She swallowed hard before continuing. "We found out later that it had been a girl."

"I'm… so sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Riikuu shook her head.

"It's… alright. But… Satoshi doesn't know, and I'd like to keep it that way." Gyna nodded.

"Okay." She glanced around the room. "Can I go see him?" Riikuu hesitated.

"I… suppose." Gyna was out of bed in a flash. Time slowed down. Riikuu could see the tiny movement of dust from the strip of light shining in from between the curtains. She could see each strand of Gyna's hair move individually. And then Gyna sped up. Everything was still slow, but Gyna was moving quickly- faster than normal- towards the door. She stopped and turned to look at Riikuu, and time snapped back to normal.

"Is something wrong?" Gyna asked, seeing the odd expression on Riikuu's face. She shook her head.

"No. Just… something might be explained soon."

"Okay…" Gyna said slowly. Riikuu's expression was still odd.

"You go on ahead. There's something I need to check." Gyna nodded agreeably.

"Okay," she said again, heading into Satoshi's room.

He was asleep, completely exhausted from Gyna's ordeal, healing her, and watching over her. Gyna sat down on his head, and stroked his hair off his forehead.

"Thank you Satoshi. You saved my life." Without even opening his eyes, he grabbed her and rolled over, arms wrapped around her.

"You're welcome," he said, voice heavy with sleep. He nuzzled her neck, and she burst out laughing.

"Satoshi! Hah, let go!"

"No, I don't think so." He stopped nuzzling her neck and merely laid there, messy bed-head hair tickling her throat.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to you."

"I'm glad."

"Your mom asked me to stay here."

"Well there's a plot twist for you." Gyna laughed again.

"She's nice. We got over our little spat this morning." Satoshi didn't answer, but Gyna's skin tingled wherever he was touching her, as if an electric current ran through his body into hers. "Satoshi, what are we doing?" He looked up at her, shaking dark hair out of his eyes.

"What?"

"This. Us. What are we doing?" She gestured to the two of them in his bed.

"We're laying here."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"I don't know Gyna. What do you want us to be doing?"

"Satoshi, I am trying to have a serious conversation about our actions and our feelings. Whether you like it or not, you are going to stop making suggestive comments and participate in a serious and rational way. Got it?"

"Got it," he said resignedly, releasing her and sitting up. He wasn't wearing a shirt: he never slept with one on. She looked at him, and opened her mouth. Then she closed it and shook her head.

"Put a shirt on. You're distracting me." He rolled his eyes dramatically, and grabbed a button up shirt from off the ground. Throwing it on, her raised his eyebrows at her.

"Better?" He hadn't buttoned it.

"Worse, actually." He rolled his eyes as she jumped up and grabbed a sweatshirt from the closet. She tossed it at him. "Here, try this." He rolled his eyes, but replaced the button up shirt with the sweatshirt. Readjusting the hood he raised his eyebrows at her again.

"Better?"

"Kind of. You're still very distracting. Maybe if I turn around." She tried this, but knowing her was there, and feeling his heat at her back was almost as distracting as him being shirtless in front of her. "Okay, that's worse. This'll have to do." She turned around again and sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Well, you're distracting too, so we can distract each other while attempting to have a rational, serious conversation about our feelings. Joy."

"Your sarcasm is noted and not appreciated." She gave him a stern look. "Now, let's begin." He shrugged.

"Fine. You start."

"Why do I have to start?" she complained. He glared at her.

"This was your idea. Now start!"

"Fine," she grumbled. Crossing her arms, she looked at him intensely.

"What are we doing?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. Neither of us will admit our real feelings, I'm confused by my feelings that I have for **several** different people, and we are just stuck in this ridiculous little dance around each other!"

"Okay."

"This is the part where you make some deep comment about your feelings that clears up all of my doubts and insecurities. Haven't you never read shojo manga?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're been reading too much manga."

"Satoshi!"

"Fine." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking deep into her eyes. "What do you want to be doing?" She shrugged, looking away. His eyes were too intense for her liking.

"I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about several people, like I said, but you're the first and foremost one."

"I'm flattered." His voice was dry and flat, but she caught the edge of anger. His eyes were angry as well, and then he looked away.

"What?" She titled her neck, trying to look into his eyes again.

"Nothing." He ran a hand through his hair. She rolled her eyes.

"Tell me."

"How many other people do you have feelings for?" he burst out, outraged, looking into her eyes, bangs falling into his eyes.

Gyna thought for a moment. "One." She felt nothing for Hiei. He was an idiot.

He gave her a look. "You said several."

"I've just decided that that guy is stupid." He snorted.

"So, why am I first and foremost?"

"Seniority."

"If that's really the reason I'm kicking you out right now."

"I don't know! You just are!"

"So… you like me."

"Obviously!" Gyna took a deep breath, and grabbed his pillow, hugging it to her chest. "Do you like me?"

Much to Gyna's surprise and Satoshi's chagrin, he blushed bright red. Looking away, he mumbled, "I do."

Gyna, grinning, leaned closer and cupped her ear with her hand. "What? Sorry, didn't catch that."

"I do," he mumbled slightly louder.

"Sorry? One more time."

"I like you, okay?" he burst out, finally looking at her. She was still grinning.

"Good. Now what do we do with this information?"

"You… wanna go out?" he asked hesitantly. Gyna nodded, still grinning brightly.

"Yes." He grinned.

"Excellent." Satoshi stood and grabbed her hand.

"Wait, right now?" He shrugged.

"Why not?"

"I'm in your mom's clothes!"

"Okay, we'll go get some of your stuff then we'll go out. How does that sound?" Gyna nodded, dropping the pillow and standing as well.

"Okay."

"Great. Um, your shoes are bloody too, so wear some of mine. I'll go tell my mom that we're leaving." Gyna nodded, opening his closet to find shoes as he left the room to find Riikuu.

Riikuu slid open a door in her bedroom. Inside was an ancient library, filled to the brim with books. Soft fluorescent lights lit the room, but the empty torch brackets and the covered walls where a torch flame would burn showed that the room had once been lit by torchlight. Looking hurriedly through the shelves, she found the book she was looking for. Sliding it off the shelf, she headed back into her room. Sitting on her bed, she opened it, quickly flipping through the pages. Finding the pages she was looking for, she stopped, and her eyes widened.

"Mom? We're leaving. We're going to go get some of Gyna's stuff and then go out." Satoshi poked his head into the room. His mother was sitting on her bed, frozen, eyes wide and face deathly pale. "Mom? What's wrong?" Satoshi came all the way into the room. Riikuu dropped the book as if it had burned her. It landed on the bed with a thump. "Mom, what's wrong?" He sat down on the bed, and picked up the book. He froze as well, staring down at the page. "It's… Gyna." The book was old, falling apart at the edges with old parchment pages, and written in demon script.

There was a picture on the right page. It was of Gyna, complete with her wings, ears, and tail. She was holding a katana in both hands, the moon shining behind her. It shone brightly on her waist length silver hair.

"Mom, what is this? It's Gyna! But this book is so old… how is this possible?"

"She's a time-twister." Satoshi laughed, handing the book back.

"Mom, time-twisters aren't real. Time is constant, and only moves forward."

"Except in those odd places in the world where time does not flow correctly."

"Except for those," Satoshi conceded.

"Satoshi, time-twisters are real." Riikuu ran her fingertips over the picture, and then turned the page. On this page there were two pictures of both of a girls arm. On the left arm were Japanese birthmarks that looked like tattoos, on the right, Egyptian. The same exact birthmarks as Gyna.

"Mom, what is this?"

"Satoshi, you know that Gyna has an awesome power, because of her mixed lineage. When I was with her in her room, she got up to go see you. Time slowed down, but she had sped up. She's a time-twister."

Satoshi shook his head. "No, that's impossible. They're not real." He looked down at the book again. "Mom, how is it possible that Gyna is in this book?"

"That's not Gyna." His brow furrowed.

"Then how-"

"There have been very few time-twisters in history. I could count them on one hand. The reason for this is because the different bloodlines that form a time-twister must be combined in exact proportions. The exact proportions that Gyna has." Riikuu took the book from his and ran her finger over a line of demon script. "It says here that all time-twisters look the same. The magic of time changes them, makes them all the same." Riikuu read further. "Their bodies are exactly the same, down to the height and the weight. Even their personalities are similar. They're all strong, very headstrong and stubborn."

Satoshi grinned. "That sounds like Gyna." Then his brow furrowed. "So… does that mean that time-twisters are reincarnations?" Riikuu shook her head.

"No. Reincarnations are the same soul. Time-twisters are different souls, with similar characteristics. All time-twisters lives are difficult, full of challenges and trials. This makes them strong and stubborn."

Satoshi turned a page in the book. "Mom," he said sharply. "How do time-twisters die?" Riikuu swallowed hard.

"They've all been killed by the Akai Ha before they were sixteen." Riikuu, still looking at the book heard a sharp intake of breath from her son. "Only one lived to be older. She lived to be twenty, but her entire life she had been locked up in a small, dark room. She never saw the light of day. I think death was a blessing to that poor girl."

"Why sixteen?"

"That's when the power reaches maturity. Some time-twisters gain the ability to actually control time before they're sixteen, but some aren't able to control it until they turn sixteen. But sixteen's the cutoff. All time-twisters can control time by their sixteenth birthday."

"Why does the Akai Ha want to kill Gyna?" Satoshi asked hoarsely clutching the book in his hands.

"Because she's a time-twister. She can control time." Riikuu sighed, taking the book from Satoshi's hands before his grip could damage the fragile pages. "Time is the most powerful element. With it, you can replay any scene in your life over and over again until you get the desired result. You can stop time and change the course of your or another's life. You can slow down time, or speed it up. You can do anything, because everything lies within the boundaries of time." Riikuu sighed, closing the book. "Should we tell her?" Satoshi shook is head, following his mother into the library a she put the book away.

"No."

"Why don't you want to tell her?" Satoshi sat anxiously on the edge of the bed.

"The more she knows, the more danger she's in."

"She's already in danger, and she already knows quite a bit." Satoshi shook his head.

"No. She doesn't know this. She doesn't know her own powers, and I want to keep it like that as long as possible."

"But, later, won't she be in more danger than ever if she can't use her own powers?" Satoshi shook his head and stood.

"No. She will never be in enough danger for there to be a need for her to use the power of time."

"Satoshi, she's already in enough danger. With the Akai Ha after her-"

"She will be safe with me. I will protect her." He ground his teeth, and added ruefully, "And that dog will protect her as well."

"Dog?" His mother asked, cocking her head.

"He's a demon, working for the Reikai. He's been assigned to protect Gyna. If he fails, he's sent back to spirit prison. For eternity, I'm assuming." Satoshi laughed bitterly. "So you could say he has a personal interest in keeping her alive."

"Well," Riikuu sniffed. "I suppose it's better to have a guardian who has a personal interest in keeping you alive than one who doesn't." Satoshi bared his fangs.

"I don't care. She doesn't need him. She has me. No one will touch her as long as I am there."

"You say that, but even with you there, she almost died." Satoshi winced at the memory. "If I were her, I would be very thankful with any help I could get." Satoshi shook his head violently as he walked out of the room.

"No. We do not need his help."

"Where are you going?"

"To get some of Gyna's stuff, then we're going out."

"Where?"

"I dunno. Just… out."

"Be safe." He glanced at Riikuu.

"I already made one mistake, and it almost cost Gyna her life. There will not be a second one."

Gyna stamped her feet impatiently. She was wearing Satoshi's socks- too big for her- and his shoes- much too big for her. Her first order of business, she decided, after getting her clothes, would be to move at least three pairs of her shoes to his house. She sighed, crossing her arms, and leaned against the door. Satoshi was taking a very long time for just telling Riikuu that they were leaving. She had just stood up straight when Satoshi came down the stairs. He jumped down them, landing silently with barely a bend of his knees. Gyna grinned as he straightened, face pale and worried.

"Now that I know, are you just going to show off all the awesome things you can do?" Satoshi couldn't help it: he grinned.

"Yeah, basically. Ready?" She nodded, and they left the house, Gyna clonking each step of the way because of Satoshi's large shoes.

* * *

Well, this was pretty much an explanation chapter. The action and romance pick back up (times two!) next chapter! Reviews loved and appreciated!


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